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diff --git a/old/old-2025-01-08/175-h.zip b/old/old-2025-01-08/175-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9a1e3c9..0000000 --- a/old/old-2025-01-08/175-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/old-2025-01-08/175-h/175-h.htm b/old/old-2025-01-08/175-h/175-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 7efd5ea..0000000 --- a/old/old-2025-01-08/175-h/175-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,15749 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> -<HTML> -<HEAD> - -<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> - -<TITLE> -The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux -</TITLE> - -<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> -BODY { color: Black; - background: White; - margin-right: 5%; - margin-left: 10%; - font-size: medium; - font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; - text-align: justify } - -P {text-indent: 4% } - -P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } - -P.poem {text-indent: 0%; - margin-left: 10%; - font-size: small } - -P.footnote {font-size: small ; - text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -P.transnote {font-size: small ; - text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -P.finis { text-align: center ; - text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - - -</STYLE> - -</HEAD> - -<BODY> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Phantom of the Opera - -Author: Gaston Leroux - -Release Date: June 9, 2008 [EBook #175] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA *** - - - - - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<BR><BR> - -<H1 ALIGN="center"> -The Phantom of the Opera -</H1> - -<BR> - -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -by -</H3> - -<H2 ALIGN="center"> -Gaston Leroux -</H2> - -<BR><BR> - -<H4 ALIGN="center"> -Author of "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" and<BR> -"The Perfume of the Lady in Black" -</H4> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<H2 ALIGN="center"> -Contents -</H2> - -<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Chapter</TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap00">PROLOGUE</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap01">IS IT A GHOST?</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap02">THE NEW MARGARITA</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap03">THE MYSTERIOUS REASON</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap04">BOX FIVE</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap05">THE ENCHANTED VIOLIN</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap06">A VISIT TO BOX FIVE</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap07">FAUST AND WHAT FOLLOWED</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap08">THE MYSTERIOUS BROUGHAM</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap09">AT THE MASKED BALL</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap10">FORGET THE NAME OF THE MAN'S VOICE</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap11">ABOVE THE TRAP-DOORS</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap12">APOLLO'S LYRE</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap13">A MASTER-STROKE OF THE TRAP-DOOR LOVER</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap14">THE SINGULAR ATTITUDE OF A SAFETY-PIN</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap15">CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE!</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap16">MME. GIRY'S REVELATIONS</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap17">THE SAFETY-PIN AGAIN</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap18">THE COMMISSARY, THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap19">THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap20">IN THE CELLARS OF THE OPERA</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap21">INTERESTING VICISSITUDES</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap22">IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap23">THE TORTURES BEGIN</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap24">BARRELS! BARRELS!</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap25">THE SCORPION OR THE GRASSHOPPER: WHICH</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap26">THE END OF THE GHOST'S LOVE STORY</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap27">EPILOGUE</A></TD> -</TR> - -<TR> -<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> -<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> -<A HREF="#chap28">(plus a "bonus chapter" called "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE")</A></TD> -</TR> - -</TABLE> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap00"></A> -<H1 ALIGN="center"> -The Phantom of the Opera -</H1> - -<BR> - -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Prologue -</H3> - -<P> -IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS SINGULAR WORK INFORMS THE READER HOW HE -ACQUIRED THE CERTAINTY THAT THE OPERA GHOST REALLY EXISTED -</P> - -<P> -The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a -creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the -managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the -young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the -cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and -blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; -that is to say, of a spectral shade. -</P> - -<P> -When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of Music I -was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between the phenomena -ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary and fantastic -tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; and I soon conceived -the idea that this tragedy might reasonably be explained by the -phenomena in question. The events do not date more than thirty years -back; and it would not be difficult to find at the present day, in the -foyer of the ballet, old men of the highest respectability, men upon -whose word one could absolutely rely, who would remember as though they -happened yesterday the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended -the kidnapping of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de -Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body -was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars of -the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses had -until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting the -more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible -story. -</P> - -<P> -The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an inquiry that at -every moment was complicated by events which, at first sight, might be -looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was within an ace of -abandoning a task in which I was exhausting myself in the hopeless -pursuit of a vain image. At last, I received the proof that my -presentiments had not deceived me, and I was rewarded for all my -efforts on the day when I acquired the certainty that the Opera ghost -was more than a mere shade. -</P> - -<P> -On that day, I had spent long hours over THE MEMOIRS OF A MANAGER, the -light and frivolous work of the too-skeptical Moncharmin, who, during -his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious behavior of -the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he could at the -very moment when he became the first victim of the curious financial -operation that went on inside the "magic envelope." -</P> - -<P> -I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful -acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing -with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced me -gaily. The acting-manager knew all about my investigations and how -eagerly and unsuccessfully I had been trying to discover the -whereabouts of the examining magistrate in the famous Chagny case, M. -Faure. Nobody knew what had become of him, alive or dead; and here he -was back from Canada, where he had spent fifteen years, and the first -thing he had done, on his return to Paris, was to come to the -secretarial offices at the Opera and ask for a free seat. The little -old man was M. Faure himself. -</P> - -<P> -We spent a good part of the evening together and he told me the whole -Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. He was bound to -conclude in favor of the madness of the viscount and the accidental -death of the elder brother, for lack of evidence to the contrary; but -he was nevertheless persuaded that a terrible tragedy had taken place -between the two brothers in connection with Christine Daae. He could -not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. When I mentioned -the ghost, he only laughed. He, too, had been told of the curious -manifestations that seemed to point to the existence of an abnormal -being, residing in one of the most mysterious corners of the Opera, and -he knew the story of the envelope; but he had never seen anything in it -worthy of his attention as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case, and -it was as much as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness -who appeared of his own accord and declared that he had often met the -ghost. This witness was none other than the man whom all Paris called -the "Persian" and who was well-known to every subscriber to the Opera. -The magistrate took him for a visionary. -</P> - -<P> -I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. I wanted, if -there were still time, to find this valuable and eccentric witness. My -luck began to improve and I discovered him in his little flat in the -Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died five -months after my visit. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; but -when the Persian had told me, with child-like candor, all that he knew -about the ghost and had handed me the proofs of the ghost's -existence—including the strange correspondence of Christine Daae—to -do as I pleased with, I was no longer able to doubt. No, the ghost was -not a myth! -</P> - -<P> -I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been forged -from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly been fed on -the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered some of -Christine's writing outside the famous bundle of letters and, on a -comparison between the two, all my doubts were removed. I also went -into the past history of the Persian and found that he was an upright -man, incapable of inventing a story that might have defeated the ends -of justice. -</P> - -<P> -This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, at one -time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were friends of -the Chagny family, to whom I showed all my documents and set forth all -my inferences. In this connection, I should like to print a few lines -which I received from General D——: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -SIR: -</P> - -<P> -I can not urge you too strongly to publish the results of your inquiry. -I remember perfectly that, a few weeks before the disappearance of that -great singer, Christine Daae, and the tragedy which threw the whole of -the Faubourg Saint-Germain into mourning, there was a great deal of -talk, in the foyer of the ballet, on the subject of the "ghost;" and I -believe that it only ceased to be discussed in consequence of the later -affair that excited us all so greatly. But, if it be possible—as, -after hearing you, I believe—to explain the tragedy through the ghost, -then I beg you sir, to talk to us about the ghost again. -</P> - -<P> -Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, he will always be more -easily explained than the dismal story in which malevolent people have -tried to picture two brothers killing each other who had worshiped each -other all their lives. -</P> - -<P> -Believe me, etc. -</P> - -<P> -Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over the -ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made his kingdom. -All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived, corroborated the -Persian's documents precisely; and a wonderful discovery crowned my -labors in a very definite fashion. It will be remembered that, later, -when digging in the substructure of the Opera, before burying the -phonographic records of the artist's voice, the workmen laid bare a -corpse. Well, I was at once able to prove that this corpse was that of -the Opera ghost. I made the acting-manager put this proof to the test -with his own hand; and it is now a matter of supreme indifference to me -if the papers pretend that the body was that of a victim of the Commune. -</P> - -<P> -The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars of -the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their -skeletons can be found in a spot not very far from that immense crypt -which was stocked during the siege with all sorts of provisions. I -came upon this track just when I was looking for the remains of the -Opera ghost, which I should never have discovered but for the -unheard-of chance described above. -</P> - -<P> -But we will return to the corpse and what ought to be done with it. -For the present, I must conclude this very necessary introduction by -thanking M. Mifroid (who was the commissary of police called in for the -first investigations after the disappearance of Christine Daae), M. -Remy, the late secretary, M. Mercier, the late acting-manager, M. -Gabriel, the late chorus-master, and more particularly Mme. la Baronne -de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the "little Meg" of the story (and -who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star of our admirable -corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy Mme. Giry, now -deceased, who had charge of the ghost's private box. All these were of -the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, I shall be able to -reproduce those hours of sheer love and terror, in their smallest -details, before the reader's eyes. -</P> - -<P> -And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing on the -threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank the present -management the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me in all my -inquiries, and M. Messager in particular, together with M. Gabion, the -acting-manager, and that most amiable of men, the architect intrusted -with the preservation of the building, who did not hesitate to lend me -the works of Charles Garnier, although he was almost sure that I would -never return them to him. Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the -generosity of my friend and former collaborator, M. J. Le Croze, who -allowed me to dip into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow -the rarest editions of books by which he set great store. -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -GASTON LEROUX. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap01"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter I Is it the Ghost? -</H3> - -<P> -It was the evening on which MM. Debienne and Poligny, the managers of -the Opera, were giving a last gala performance to mark their -retirement. Suddenly the dressing-room of La Sorelli, one of the -principal dancers, was invaded by half-a-dozen young ladies of the -ballet, who had come up from the stage after "dancing" Polyeucte. They -rushed in amid great confusion, some giving vent to forced and -unnatural laughter, others to cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished to -be alone for a moment to "run through" the speech which she was to make -to the resigning managers, looked around angrily at the mad and -tumultuous crowd. It was little Jammes—the girl with the tip-tilted -nose, the forget-me-not eyes, the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white -neck and shoulders—who gave the explanation in a trembling voice: -</P> - -<P> -"It's the ghost!" And she locked the door. -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli's dressing-room was fitted up with official, commonplace -elegance. A pier-glass, a sofa, a dressing-table and a cupboard or two -provided the necessary furniture. On the walls hung a few engravings, -relics of the mother, who had known the glories of the old Opera in the -Rue le Peletier; portraits of Vestris, Gardel, Dupont, Bigottini. But -the room seemed a palace to the brats of the corps de ballet, who were -lodged in common dressing-rooms where they spent their time singing, -quarreling, smacking the dressers and hair-dressers and buying one -another glasses of cassis, beer, or even rhum, until the call-boy's -bell rang. -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli was very superstitious. She shuddered when she heard little -Jammes speak of the ghost, called her a "silly little fool" and then, -as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general, and the Opera -ghost in particular, at once asked for details: -</P> - -<P> -"Have you seen him?" -</P> - -<P> -"As plainly as I see you now!" said little Jammes, whose legs were -giving way beneath her, and she dropped with a moan into a chair. -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon little Giry—the girl with eyes black as sloes, hair black as -ink, a swarthy complexion and a poor little skin stretched over poor -little bones—little Giry added: -</P> - -<P> -"If that's the ghost, he's very ugly!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, yes!" cried the chorus of ballet-girls. -</P> - -<P> -And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them in -the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood -before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. -He seemed to have come straight through the wall. -</P> - -<P> -"Pooh!" said one of them, who had more or less kept her head. "You see -the ghost everywhere!" -</P> - -<P> -And it was true. For several months, there had been nothing discussed -at the Opera but this ghost in dress-clothes who stalked about the -building, from top to bottom, like a shadow, who spoke to nobody, to -whom nobody dared speak and who vanished as soon as he was seen, no one -knowing how or where. As became a real ghost, he made no noise in -walking. People began by laughing and making fun of this specter -dressed like a man of fashion or an undertaker; but the ghost legend -soon swelled to enormous proportions among the corps de ballet. All -the girls pretended to have met this supernatural being more or less -often. And those who laughed the loudest were not the most at ease. -When he did not show himself, he betrayed his presence or his passing -by accident, comic or serious, for which the general superstition held -him responsible. Had any one met with a fall, or suffered a practical -joke at the hands of one of the other girls, or lost a powderpuff, it -was at once the fault of the ghost, of the Opera ghost. -</P> - -<P> -After all, who had seen him? You meet so many men in dress-clothes at -the Opera who are not ghosts. But this dress-suit had a peculiarity of -its own. It covered a skeleton. At least, so the ballet-girls said. -And, of course, it had a death's head. -</P> - -<P> -Was all this serious? The truth is that the idea of the skeleton came -from the description of the ghost given by Joseph Buquet, the chief -scene-shifter, who had really seen the ghost. He had run up against -the ghost on the little staircase, by the footlights, which leads to -"the cellars." He had seen him for a second—for the ghost had -fled—and to any one who cared to listen to him he said: -</P> - -<P> -"He is extraordinarily thin and his dress-coat hangs on a skeleton -frame. His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils. -You just see two big black holes, as in a dead man's skull. His skin, -which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead, is not white, but -a nasty yellow. His nose is so little worth talking about that you -can't see it side-face; and THE ABSENCE of that nose is a horrible -thing TO LOOK AT. All the hair he has is three or four long dark locks -on his forehead and behind his ears." -</P> - -<P> -This chief scene-shifter was a serious, sober, steady man, very slow at -imagining things. His words were received with interest and amazement; -and soon there were other people to say that they too had met a man in -dress-clothes with a death's head on his shoulders. Sensible men who -had wind of the story began by saying that Joseph Buquet had been the -victim of a joke played by one of his assistants. And then, one after -the other, there came a series of incidents so curious and so -inexplicable that the very shrewdest people began to feel uneasy. -</P> - -<P> -For instance, a fireman is a brave fellow! He fears nothing, least of -all fire! Well, the fireman in question, who had gone to make a round -of inspection in the cellars and who, it seems, had ventured a little -farther than usual, suddenly reappeared on the stage, pale, scared, -trembling, with his eyes starting out of his head, and practically -fainted in the arms of the proud mother of little Jammes.[1] And why? -Because he had seen coming toward him, AT THE LEVEL OF HIS HEAD, BUT -WITHOUT A BODY ATTACHED TO IT, A HEAD OF FIRE! And, as I said, a -fireman is not afraid of fire. -</P> - -<P> -The fireman's name was Pampin. -</P> - -<P> -The corps de ballet was flung into consternation. At first sight, this -fiery head in no way corresponded with Joseph Buquet's description of -the ghost. But the young ladies soon persuaded themselves that the -ghost had several heads, which he changed about as he pleased. And, of -course, they at once imagined that they were in the greatest danger. -Once a fireman did not hesitate to faint, leaders and front-row and -back-row girls alike had plenty of excuses for the fright that made -them quicken their pace when passing some dark corner or ill-lighted -corridor. Sorelli herself, on the day after the adventure of the -fireman, placed a horseshoe on the table in front of the -stage-door-keeper's box, which every one who entered the Opera -otherwise than as a spectator must touch before setting foot on the -first tread of the staircase. This horse-shoe was not invented by -me—any more than any other part of this story, alas!—and may still be -seen on the table in the passage outside the stage-door-keeper's box, -when you enter the Opera through the court known as the Cour de -l'Administration. -</P> - -<P> -To return to the evening in question. -</P> - -<P> -"It's the ghost!" little Jammes had cried. -</P> - -<P> -An agonizing silence now reigned in the dressing-room. Nothing was -heard but the hard breathing of the girls. At last, Jammes, flinging -herself upon the farthest corner of the wall, with every mark of real -terror on her face, whispered: -</P> - -<P> -"Listen!" -</P> - -<P> -Everybody seemed to hear a rustling outside the door. There was no -sound of footsteps. It was like light silk sliding over the panel. -Then it stopped. -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli tried to show more pluck than the others. She went up to the -door and, in a quavering voice, asked: -</P> - -<P> -"Who's there?" -</P> - -<P> -But nobody answered. Then feeling all eyes upon her, watching her last -movement, she made an effort to show courage, and said very loudly: -</P> - -<P> -"Is there any one behind the door?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, yes, yes! Of course there is!" cried that little dried plum of a -Meg Giry, heroically holding Sorelli back by her gauze skirt. -"Whatever you do, don't open the door! Oh, Lord, don't open the door!" -</P> - -<P> -But Sorelli, armed with a dagger that never left her, turned the key -and drew back the door, while the ballet-girls retreated to the inner -dressing-room and Meg Giry sighed: -</P> - -<P> -"Mother! Mother!" -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli looked into the passage bravely. It was empty; a gas-flame, in -its glass prison, cast a red and suspicious light into the surrounding -darkness, without succeeding in dispelling it. And the dancer slammed -the door again, with a deep sigh. -</P> - -<P> -"No," she said, "there is no one there." -</P> - -<P> -"Still, we saw him!" Jammes declared, returning with timid little -steps to her place beside Sorelli. "He must be somewhere prowling -about. I shan't go back to dress. We had better all go down to the -foyer together, at once, for the 'speech,' and we will come up again -together." -</P> - -<P> -And the child reverently touched the little coral finger-ring which she -wore as a charm against bad luck, while Sorelli, stealthily, with the -tip of her pink right thumb-nail, made a St. Andrew's cross on the -wooden ring which adorned the fourth finger of her left hand. She said -to the little ballet-girls: -</P> - -<P> -"Come, children, pull yourselves together! I dare say no one has ever -seen the ghost." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, yes, we saw him—we saw him just now!" cried the girls. "He had -his death's head and his dress-coat, just as when he appeared to Joseph -Buquet!" -</P> - -<P> -"And Gabriel saw him too!" said Jammes. "Only yesterday! Yesterday -afternoon—in broad day-light——" -</P> - -<P> -"Gabriel, the chorus-master?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, yes, didn't you know?" -</P> - -<P> -"And he was wearing his dress-clothes, in broad daylight?" -</P> - -<P> -"Who? Gabriel?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, no, the ghost!" -</P> - -<P> -"Certainly! Gabriel told me so himself. That's what he knew him by. -Gabriel was in the stage-manager's office. Suddenly the door opened -and the Persian entered. You know the Persian has the evil eye——" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, yes!" answered the little ballet-girls in chorus, warding off -ill-luck by pointing their forefinger and little finger at the absent -Persian, while their second and third fingers were bent on the palm and -held down by the thumb. -</P> - -<P> -"And you know how superstitious Gabriel is," continued Jammes. -"However, he is always polite. When he meets the Persian, he just puts -his hand in his pocket and touches his keys. Well, the moment the -Persian appeared in the doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from his chair -to the lock of the cupboard, so as to touch iron! In doing so, he tore -a whole skirt of his overcoat on a nail. Hurrying to get out of the -room, he banged his forehead against a hat-peg and gave himself a huge -bump; then, suddenly stepping back, he skinned his arm on the screen, -near the piano; he tried to lean on the piano, but the lid fell on his -hands and crushed his fingers; he rushed out of the office like a -madman, slipped on the staircase and came down the whole of the first -flight on his back. I was just passing with mother. We picked him up. -He was covered with bruises and his face was all over blood. We were -frightened out of our lives, but, all at once, he began to thank -Providence that he had got off so cheaply. Then he told us what had -frightened him. He had seen the ghost behind the Persian, THE GHOST -WITH THE DEATH'S HEAD just like Joseph Buquet's description!" -</P> - -<P> -Jammes had told her story ever so quickly, as though the ghost were at -her heels, and was quite out of breath at the finish. A silence -followed, while Sorelli polished her nails in great excitement. It was -broken by little Giry, who said: -</P> - -<P> -"Joseph Buquet would do better to hold his tongue." -</P> - -<P> -"Why should he hold his tongue?" asked somebody. -</P> - -<P> -"That's mother's opinion," replied Meg, lowering her voice and looking -all about her as though fearing lest other ears than those present -might overhear. -</P> - -<P> -"And why is it your mother's opinion?" -</P> - -<P> -"Hush! Mother says the ghost doesn't like being talked about." -</P> - -<P> -"And why does your mother say so?" -</P> - -<P> -"Because—because—nothing—" -</P> - -<P> -This reticence exasperated the curiosity of the young ladies, who -crowded round little Giry, begging her to explain herself. They were -there, side by side, leaning forward simultaneously in one movement of -entreaty and fear, communicating their terror to one another, taking a -keen pleasure in feeling their blood freeze in their veins. -</P> - -<P> -"I swore not to tell!" gasped Meg. -</P> - -<P> -But they left her no peace and promised to keep the secret, until Meg, -burning to say all she knew, began, with her eyes fixed on the door: -</P> - -<P> -"Well, it's because of the private box." -</P> - -<P> -"What private box?" -</P> - -<P> -"The ghost's box!" -</P> - -<P> -"Has the ghost a box? Oh, do tell us, do tell us!" -</P> - -<P> -"Not so loud!" said Meg. "It's Box Five, you know, the box on the -grand tier, next to the stage-box, on the left." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, nonsense!" -</P> - -<P> -"I tell you it is. Mother has charge of it. But you swear you won't -say a word?" -</P> - -<P> -"Of course, of course." -</P> - -<P> -"Well, that's the ghost's box. No one has had it for over a month, -except the ghost, and orders have been given at the box-office that it -must never be sold." -</P> - -<P> -"And does the ghost really come there?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes." -</P> - -<P> -"Then somebody does come?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, no! The ghost comes, but there is nobody there." -</P> - -<P> -The little ballet-girls exchanged glances. If the ghost came to the -box, he must be seen, because he wore a dress-coat and a death's head. -This was what they tried to make Meg understand, but she replied: -</P> - -<P> -"That's just it! The ghost is not seen. And he has no dress-coat and -no head! All that talk about his death's head and his head of fire is -nonsense! There's nothing in it. You only hear him when he is in the -box. Mother has never seen him, but she has heard him. Mother knows, -because she gives him his program." -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli interfered. -</P> - -<P> -"Giry, child, you're getting at us!" -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon little Giry began to cry. -</P> - -<P> -"I ought to have held my tongue—if mother ever came to know! But I -was quite right, Joseph Buquet had no business to talk of things that -don't concern him—it will bring him bad luck—mother was saying so -last night——" -</P> - -<P> -There was a sound of hurried and heavy footsteps in the passage and a -breathless voice cried: -</P> - -<P> -"Cecile! Cecile! Are you there?" -</P> - -<P> -"It's mother's voice," said Jammes. "What's the matter?" -</P> - -<P> -She opened the door. A respectable lady, built on the lines of a -Pomeranian grenadier, burst into the dressing-room and dropped groaning -into a vacant arm-chair. Her eyes rolled madly in her brick-dust -colored face. -</P> - -<P> -"How awful!" she said. "How awful!" -</P> - -<P> -"What? What?" -</P> - -<P> -"Joseph Buquet!" -</P> - -<P> -"What about him?" -</P> - -<P> -"Joseph Buquet is dead!" -</P> - -<P> -The room became filled with exclamations, with astonished outcries, -with scared requests for explanations. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, he was found hanging in the third-floor cellar!" -</P> - -<P> -"It's the ghost!" little Giry blurted, as though in spite of herself; -but she at once corrected herself, with her hands pressed to her mouth: -"No, no!—I, didn't say it!—I didn't say it!——" -</P> - -<P> -All around her, her panic-stricken companions repeated under their -breaths: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes—it must be the ghost!" -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli was very pale. -</P> - -<P> -"I shall never be able to recite my speech," she said. -</P> - -<P> -Ma Jammes gave her opinion, while she emptied a glass of liqueur that -happened to be standing on a table; the ghost must have something to do -with it. -</P> - -<P> -The truth is that no one ever knew how Joseph Buquet met his death. -The verdict at the inquest was "natural suicide." In his Memoirs of -Manager, M. Moncharmin, one of the joint managers who succeeded MM. -Debienne and Poligny, describes the incident as follows: -</P> - -<P> -"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. Debienne and -Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was in the manager's -office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly came darting in. He -seemed half mad and told me that the body of a scene-shifter had been -found hanging in the third cellar under the stage, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. I shouted: -</P> - -<P> -"'Come and cut him down!' -</P> - -<P> -"By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob's ladder, -the man was no longer hanging from his rope!" -</P> - -<P> -So this is an event which M. Moncharmin thinks natural. A man hangs at -the end of a rope; they go to cut him down; the rope has disappeared. -Oh, M. Moncharmin found a very simple explanation! Listen to him: -</P> - -<P> -"It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost no -time in taking their precautions against the evil eye." -</P> - -<P> -There you are! Picture the corps de ballet scuttling down the Jacob's -ladder and dividing the suicide's rope among themselves in less time -than it takes to write! When, on the other hand, I think of the exact -spot where the body was discovered—the third cellar underneath the -stage!—imagine that SOMEBODY must have been interested in seeing that -the rope disappeared after it had effected its purpose; and time will -show if I am wrong. -</P> - -<P> -The horrid news soon spread all over the Opera, where Joseph Buquet was -very popular. The dressing-rooms emptied and the ballet-girls, -crowding around Sorelli like timid sheep around their shepherdess, made -for the foyer through the ill-lit passages and staircases, trotting as -fast as their little pink legs could carry them. -</P> - -<BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[1] I have the anecdote, which is quite authentic, from M. Pedro -Gailhard himself, the late manager of the Opera. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap02"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter II The New Margarita -</H3> - -<P> -On the first landing, Sorelli ran against the Comte de Chagny, who was -coming up-stairs. The count, who was generally so calm, seemed greatly -excited. -</P> - -<P> -"I was just going to you," he said, taking off his hat. "Oh, Sorelli, -what an evening! And Christine Daae: what a triumph!" -</P> - -<P> -"Impossible!" said Meg Giry. "Six months ago, she used to sing like a -CROCK! But do let us get by, my dear count," continues the brat, with -a saucy curtsey. "We are going to inquire after a poor man who was -found hanging by the neck." -</P> - -<P> -Just then the acting-manager came fussing past and stopped when he -heard this remark. -</P> - -<P> -"What!" he exclaimed roughly. "Have you girls heard already? Well, -please forget about it for tonight—and above all don't let M. Debienne -and M. Poligny hear; it would upset them too much on their last day." -</P> - -<P> -They all went on to the foyer of the ballet, which was already full of -people. The Comte de Chagny was right; no gala performance ever -equalled this one. All the great composers of the day had conducted -their own works in turns. Faure and Krauss had sung; and, on that -evening, Christine Daae had revealed her true self, for the first time, -to the astonished and enthusiastic audience. Gounod had conducted the -Funeral March of a Marionnette; Reyer, his beautiful overture to -Siguar; Saint Saens, the Danse Macabre and a Reverie Orientale; -Massenet, an unpublished Hungarian march; Guiraud, his Carnaval; -Delibes, the Valse Lente from Sylvia and the Pizzicati from Coppelia. -Mlle. Krauss had sung the bolero in the Vespri Siciliani; and Mlle. -Denise Bloch the drinking song in Lucrezia Borgia. -</P> - -<P> -But the real triumph was reserved for Christine Daae, who had begun by -singing a few passages from Romeo and Juliet. It was the first time -that the young artist sang in this work of Gounod, which had not been -transferred to the Opera and which was revived at the Opera Comique -after it had been produced at the old Theatre Lyrique by Mme. Carvalho. -Those who heard her say that her voice, in these passages, was -seraphic; but this was nothing to the superhuman notes that she gave -forth in the prison scene and the final trio in FAUST, which she sang -in the place of La Carlotta, who was ill. No one had ever heard or -seen anything like it. -</P> - -<P> -Daae revealed a new Margarita that night, a Margarita of a splendor, a -radiance hitherto unsuspected. The whole house went mad, rising to its -feet, shouting, cheering, clapping, while Christine sobbed and fainted -in the arms of her fellow-singers and had to be carried to her -dressing-room. A few subscribers, however, protested. Why had so great -a treasure been kept from them all that time? Till then, Christine -Daae had played a good Siebel to Carlotta's rather too splendidly -material Margarita. And it had needed Carlotta's incomprehensible and -inexcusable absence from this gala night for the little Daae, at a -moment's warning, to show all that she could do in a part of the -program reserved for the Spanish diva! Well, what the subscribers -wanted to know was, why had Debienne and Poligny applied to Daae, when -Carlotta was taken ill? Did they know of her hidden genius? And, if -they knew of it, why had they kept it hidden? And why had she kept it -hidden? Oddly enough, she was not known to have a professor of singing -at that moment. She had often said she meant to practise alone for the -future. The whole thing was a mystery. -</P> - -<P> -The Comte de Chagny, standing up in his box, listened to all this -frenzy and took part in it by loudly applauding. Philippe Georges -Marie Comte de Chagny was just forty-one years of age. He was a great -aristocrat and a good-looking man, above middle height and with -attractive features, in spite of his hard forehead and his rather cold -eyes. He was exquisitely polite to the women and a little haughty to -the men, who did not always forgive him for his successes in society. -He had an excellent heart and an irreproachable conscience. On the -death of old Count Philibert, he became the head of one of the oldest -and most distinguished families in France, whose arms dated back to the -fourteenth century. The Chagnys owned a great deal of property; and, -when the old count, who was a widower, died, it was no easy task for -Philippe to accept the management of so large an estate. His two -sisters and his brother, Raoul, would not hear of a division and waived -their claim to their shares, leaving themselves entirely in Philippe's -hands, as though the right of primogeniture had never ceased to exist. -When the two sisters married, on the same day, they received their -portion from their brother, not as a thing rightfully belonging to -them, but as a dowry for which they thanked him. -</P> - -<P> -The Comtesse de Chagny, nee de Moerogis de La Martyniere, had died in -giving birth to Raoul, who was born twenty years after his elder -brother. At the time of the old count's death, Raoul was twelve years -of age. Philippe busied himself actively with the youngster's -education. He was admirably assisted in this work first by his sisters -and afterward by an old aunt, the widow of a naval officer, who lived -at Brest and gave young Raoul a taste for the sea. The lad entered the -Borda training-ship, finished his course with honors and quietly made -his trip round the world. Thanks to powerful influence, he had just -been appointed a member of the official expedition on board the Requin, -which was to be sent to the Arctic Circle in search of the survivors of -the D'Artoi's expedition, of whom nothing had been heard for three -years. Meanwhile, he was enjoying a long furlough which would not be -over for six months; and already the dowagers of the Faubourg -Saint-Germain were pitying the handsome and apparently delicate -stripling for the hard work in store for him. -</P> - -<P> -The shyness of the sailor-lad—I was almost saying his innocence—was -remarkable. He seemed to have but just left the women's apron-strings. -As a matter of fact, petted as he was by his two sisters and his old -aunt, he had retained from this purely feminine education manners that -were almost candid and stamped with a charm that nothing had yet been -able to sully. He was a little over twenty-one years of age and looked -eighteen. He had a small, fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes and a -complexion like a girl's. -</P> - -<P> -Philippe spoiled Raoul. To begin with, he was very proud of him and -pleased to foresee a glorious career for his junior in the navy in -which one of their ancestors, the famous Chagny de La Roche, had held -the rank of admiral. He took advantage of the young man's leave of -absence to show him Paris, with all its luxurious and artistic -delights. The count considered that, at Raoul's age, it is not good to -be too good. Philippe himself had a character that was very -well-balanced in work and pleasure alike; his demeanor was always -faultless; and he was incapable of setting his brother a bad example. -He took him with him wherever he went. He even introduced him to the -foyer of the ballet. I know that the count was said to be "on terms" -with Sorelli. But it could hardly be reckoned as a crime for this -nobleman, a bachelor, with plenty of leisure, especially since his -sisters were settled, to come and spend an hour or two after dinner in -the company of a dancer, who, though not so very, very witty, had the -finest eyes that ever were seen! And, besides, there are places where -a true Parisian, when he has the rank of the Comte de Chagny, is bound -to show himself; and at that time the foyer of the ballet at the Opera -was one of those places. -</P> - -<P> -Lastly, Philippe would perhaps not have taken his brother behind the -scenes of the Opera if Raoul had not been the first to ask him, -repeatedly renewing his request with a gentle obstinacy which the count -remembered at a later date. -</P> - -<P> -On that evening, Philippe, after applauding the Daae, turned to Raoul -and saw that he was quite pale. -</P> - -<P> -"Don't you see," said Raoul, "that the woman's fainting?" -</P> - -<P> -"You look like fainting yourself," said the count. "What's the matter?" -</P> - -<P> -But Raoul had recovered himself and was standing up. -</P> - -<P> -"Let's go and see," he said, "she never sang like that before." -</P> - -<P> -The count gave his brother a curious smiling glance and seemed quite -pleased. They were soon at the door leading from the house to the -stage. Numbers of subscribers were slowly making their way through. -Raoul tore his gloves without knowing what he was doing and Philippe -had much too kind a heart to laugh at him for his impatience. But he -now understood why Raoul was absent-minded when spoken to and why he -always tried to turn every conversation to the subject of the Opera. -</P> - -<P> -They reached the stage and pushed through the crowd of gentlemen, -scene-shifters, supers and chorus-girls, Raoul leading the way, feeling -that his heart no longer belonged to him, his face set with passion, -while Count Philippe followed him with difficulty and continued to -smile. At the back of the stage, Raoul had to stop before the inrush -of the little troop of ballet-girls who blocked the passage which he -was trying to enter. More than one chaffing phrase darted from little -made-up lips, to which he did not reply; and at last he was able to -pass, and dived into the semi-darkness of a corridor ringing with the -name of "Daae! Daae!" The count was surprised to find that Raoul knew -the way. He had never taken him to Christine's himself and came to the -conclusion that Raoul must have gone there alone while the count stayed -talking in the foyer with Sorelli, who often asked him to wait until it -was her time to "go on" and sometimes handed him the little gaiters in -which she ran down from her dressing-room to preserve the spotlessness -of her satin dancing-shoes and her flesh-colored tights. Sorelli had -an excuse; she had lost her mother. -</P> - -<P> -Postponing his usual visit to Sorelli for a few minutes, the count -followed his brother down the passage that led to Daae's dressing-room -and saw that it had never been so crammed as on that evening, when the -whole house seemed excited by her success and also by her fainting fit. -For the girl had not yet come to; and the doctor of the theater had -just arrived at the moment when Raoul entered at his heels. Christine, -therefore, received the first aid of the one, while opening her eyes in -the arms of the other. The count and many more remained crowding in -the doorway. -</P> - -<P> -"Don't you think, Doctor, that those gentlemen had better clear the -room?" asked Raoul coolly. "There's no breathing here." -</P> - -<P> -"You're quite right," said the doctor. -</P> - -<P> -And he sent every one away, except Raoul and the maid, who looked at -Raoul with eyes of the most undisguised astonishment. She had never -seen him before and yet dared not question him; and the doctor imagined -that the young man was only acting as he did because he had the right -to. The viscount, therefore, remained in the room watching Christine -as she slowly returned to life, while even the joint managers, Debienne -and Poligny, who had come to offer their sympathy and congratulations, -found themselves thrust into the passage among the crowd of dandies. -The Comte de Chagny, who was one of those standing outside, laughed: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, the rogue, the rogue!" And he added, under his breath: "Those -youngsters with their school-girl airs! So he's a Chagny after all!" -</P> - -<P> -He turned to go to Sorelli's dressing-room, but met her on the way, -with her little troop of trembling ballet-girls, as we have seen. -</P> - -<P> -Meanwhile, Christine Daae uttered a deep sigh, which was answered by a -groan. She turned her head, saw Raoul and started. She looked at the -doctor, on whom she bestowed a smile, then at her maid, then at Raoul -again. -</P> - -<P> -"Monsieur," she said, in a voice not much above a whisper, "who are -you?" -</P> - -<P> -"Mademoiselle," replied the young man, kneeling on one knee and -pressing a fervent kiss on the diva's hand, "I AM THE LITTLE BOY WHO -WENT INTO THE SEA TO RESCUE YOUR SCARF." -</P> - -<P> -Christine again looked at the doctor and the maid; and all three began -to laugh. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul turned very red and stood up. -</P> - -<P> -"Mademoiselle," he said, "since you are pleased not to recognize me, I -should like to say something to you in private, something very -important." -</P> - -<P> -"When I am better, do you mind?" And her voice shook. "You have been -very good." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, you must go," said the doctor, with his pleasantest smile. -"Leave me to attend to mademoiselle." -</P> - -<P> -"I am not ill now," said Christine suddenly, with strange and -unexpected energy. -</P> - -<P> -She rose and passed her hand over her eyelids. -</P> - -<P> -"Thank you, Doctor. I should like to be alone. Please go away, all of -you. Leave me. I feel very restless this evening." -</P> - -<P> -The doctor tried to make a short protest, but, perceiving the girl's -evident agitation, he thought the best remedy was not to thwart her. -And he went away, saying to Raoul, outside: -</P> - -<P> -"She is not herself to-night. She is usually so gentle." -</P> - -<P> -Then he said good night and Raoul was left alone. The whole of this -part of the theater was now deserted. The farewell ceremony was no -doubt taking place in the foyer of the ballet. Raoul thought that Daae -might go to it and he waited in the silent solitude, even hiding in the -favoring shadow of a doorway. He felt a terrible pain at his heart and -it was of this that he wanted to speak to Daae without delay. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly the dressing-room door opened and the maid came out by -herself, carrying bundles. He stopped her and asked how her mistress -was. The woman laughed and said that she was quite well, but that he -must not disturb her, for she wished to be left alone. And she passed -on. One idea alone filled Raoul's burning brain: of course, Daae -wished to be left alone FOR HIM! Had he not told her that he wanted to -speak to her privately? -</P> - -<P> -Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his ear to -the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his hand dropped. -He had heard A MAN'S VOICE in the dressing-room, saying, in a curiously -masterful tone: -</P> - -<P> -"Christine, you must love me!" -</P> - -<P> -And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though -accompanied by tears, replied: -</P> - -<P> -"How can you talk like that? WHEN I SING ONLY FOR YOU!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain. His heart, which had -seemed gone for ever, returned to his breast and was throbbing loudly. -The whole passage echoed with its beating and Raoul's ears were -deafened. Surely, if his heart continued to make such a noise, they -would hear it inside, they would open the door and the young man would -be turned away in disgrace. What a position for a Chagny! To be -caught listening behind a door! He took his heart in his two hands to -make it stop. -</P> - -<P> -The man's voice spoke again: "Are you very tired?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!" Christine replied. -</P> - -<P> -"Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice, -"and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. THE ANGELS -WEPT TONIGHT." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul heard nothing after that. Nevertheless, he did not go away, but, -as though he feared lest he should be caught, he returned to his dark -corner, determined to wait for the man to leave the room. At one and -the same time, he had learned what love meant, and hatred. He knew -that he loved. He wanted to know whom he hated. To his great -astonishment, the door opened and Christine Daae appeared, wrapped in -furs, with her face hidden in a lace veil, alone. She closed the door -behind her, but Raoul observed that she did not lock it. She passed -him. He did not even follow her with his eyes, for his eyes were fixed -on the door, which did not open again. -</P> - -<P> -When the passage was once more deserted, he crossed it, opened the door -of the dressing-room, went in and shut the door. He found himself in -absolute darkness. The gas had been turned out. -</P> - -<P> -"There is some one here!" said Raoul, with his back against the closed -door, in a quivering voice. "What are you hiding for?" -</P> - -<P> -All was darkness and silence. Raoul heard only the sound of his own -breathing. He quite failed to see that the indiscretion of his conduct -was exceeding all bounds. -</P> - -<P> -"You shan't leave this until I let you!" he exclaimed. "If you don't -answer, you are a coward! But I'll expose you!" -</P> - -<P> -And he struck a match. The blaze lit up the room. There was no one in -the room! Raoul, first turning the key in the door, lit the gas-jets. -He went into the dressing-closet, opened the cupboards, hunted about, -felt the walls with his moist hands. Nothing! -</P> - -<P> -"Look here!" he said, aloud. "Am I going mad?" -</P> - -<P> -He stood for ten minutes listening to the gas flaring in the silence of -the empty room; lover though he was, he did not even think of stealing -a ribbon that would have given him the perfume of the woman he loved. -He went out, not knowing what he was doing nor where he was going. At -a given moment in his wayward progress, an icy draft struck him in the -face. He found himself at the bottom of a staircase, down which, -behind him, a procession of workmen were carrying a sort of stretcher, -covered with a white sheet. -</P> - -<P> -"Which is the way out, please?" he asked of one of the men. -</P> - -<P> -"Straight in front of you, the door is open. But let us pass." -</P> - -<P> -Pointing to the stretcher, he asked mechanically: "What's that?" -</P> - -<P> -The workmen answered: -</P> - -<P> -"'That' is Joseph Buquet, who was found in the third cellar, hanging -between a farm-house and a scene from the ROI DE LAHORE." -</P> - -<P> -He took off his hat, fell back to make room for the procession and went -out. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap03"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter III The Mysterious Reason -</H3> - -<P> -During this time, the farewell ceremony was taking place. I have -already said that this magnificent function was being given on the -occasion of the retirement of M. Debienne and M. Poligny, who had -determined to "die game," as we say nowadays. They had been assisted -in the realization of their ideal, though melancholy, program by all -that counted in the social and artistic world of Paris. All these -people met, after the performance, in the foyer of the ballet, where -Sorelli waited for the arrival of the retiring managers with a glass of -champagne in her hand and a little prepared speech at the tip of her -tongue. Behind her, the members of the Corps de Ballet, young and old, -discussed the events of the day in whispers or exchanged discreet -signals with their friends, a noisy crowd of whom surrounded the -supper-tables arranged along the slanting floor. -</P> - -<P> -A few of the dancers had already changed into ordinary dress; but most -of them wore their skirts of gossamer gauze; and all had thought it the -right thing to put on a special face for the occasion: all, that is, -except little Jammes, whose fifteen summers—happy age!—seemed already -to have forgotten the ghost and the death of Joseph Buquet. She never -ceased to laugh and chatter, to hop about and play practical jokes, -until Mm. Debienne and Poligny appeared on the steps of the foyer, when -she was severely called to order by the impatient Sorelli. -</P> - -<P> -Everybody remarked that the retiring managers looked cheerful, as is -the Paris way. None will ever be a true Parisian who has not learned -to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one of sadness, boredom -or indifference over his inward joy. You know that one of your friends -is in trouble; do not try to console him: he will tell you that he is -already comforted; but, should he have met with good fortune, be -careful how you congratulate him: he thinks it so natural that he is -surprised that you should speak of it. In Paris, our lives are one -masked ball; and the foyer of the ballet is the last place in which two -men so "knowing" as M. Debienne and M. Poligny would have made the -mistake of betraying their grief, however genuine it might be. And -they were already smiling rather too broadly upon Sorelli, who had -begun to recite her speech, when an exclamation from that little madcap -of a Jammes broke the smile of the managers so brutally that the -expression of distress and dismay that lay beneath it became apparent -to all eyes: -</P> - -<P> -"The Opera ghost!" -</P> - -<P> -Jammes yelled these words in a tone of unspeakable terror; and her -finger pointed, among the crowd of dandies, to a face so pallid, so -lugubrious and so ugly, with two such deep black cavities under the -straddling eyebrows, that the death's head in question immediately -scored a huge success. -</P> - -<P> -"The Opera ghost! The Opera ghost!" Everybody laughed and pushed his -neighbor and wanted to offer the Opera ghost a drink, but he was gone. -He had slipped through the crowd; and the others vainly hunted for him, -while two old gentlemen tried to calm little Jammes and while little -Giry stood screaming like a peacock. -</P> - -<P> -Sorelli was furious; she had not been able to finish her speech; the -managers, had kissed her, thanked her and run away as fast as the ghost -himself. No one was surprised at this, for it was known that they were -to go through the same ceremony on the floor above, in the foyer of the -singers, and that finally they were themselves to receive their -personal friends, for the last time, in the great lobby outside the -managers' office, where a regular supper would be served. -</P> - -<P> -Here they found the new managers, M. Armand Moncharmin and M. Firmin -Richard, whom they hardly knew; nevertheless, they were lavish in -protestations of friendship and received a thousand flattering -compliments in reply, so that those of the guests who had feared that -they had a rather tedious evening in store for them at once put on -brighter faces. The supper was almost gay and a particularly clever -speech of the representative of the government, mingling the glories of -the past with the successes of the future, caused the greatest -cordiality to prevail. -</P> - -<P> -The retiring managers had already handed over to their successors the -two tiny master-keys which opened all the doors—thousands of doors—of -the Opera house. And those little keys, the object of general -curiosity, were being passed from hand to hand, when the attention of -some of the guests was diverted by their discovery, at the end of the -table, of that strange, wan and fantastic face, with the hollow eyes, -which had already appeared in the foyer of the ballet and been greeted -by little Jammes' exclamation: -</P> - -<P> -"The Opera ghost!" -</P> - -<P> -There sat the ghost, as natural as could be, except that he neither ate -nor drank. Those who began by looking at him with a smile ended by -turning away their heads, for the sight of him at once provoked the -most funereal thoughts. No one repeated the joke of the foyer, no one -exclaimed: -</P> - -<P> -"There's the Opera ghost!" -</P> - -<P> -He himself did not speak a word and his very neighbors could not have -stated at what precise moment he had sat down between them; but every -one felt that if the dead did ever come and sit at the table of the -living, they could not cut a more ghastly figure. The friends of -Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin thought that this lean and skinny -guest was an acquaintance of Debienne's or Poligny's, while Debienne's -and Poligny's friends believed that the cadaverous individual belonged -to Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin's party. -</P> - -<P> -The result was that no request was made for an explanation; no -unpleasant remark; no joke in bad taste, which might have offended this -visitor from the tomb. A few of those present who knew the story of -the ghost and the description of him given by the chief -scene-shifter—they did not know of Joseph Buquet's death—thought, in -their own minds, that the man at the end of the table might easily have -passed for him; and yet, according to the story, the ghost had no nose -and the person in question had. But M. Moncharmin declares, in his -Memoirs, that the guest's nose was transparent: "long, thin and -transparent" are his exact words. I, for my part, will add that this -might very well apply to a false nose. M. Moncharmin may have taken -for transparency what was only shininess. Everybody knows that -orthopaedic science provides beautiful false noses for those who have -lost their noses naturally or as the result of an operation. -</P> - -<P> -Did the ghost really take a seat at the managers' supper-table that -night, uninvited? And can we be sure that the figure was that of the -Opera ghost himself? Who would venture to assert as much? I mention -the incident, not because I wish for a second to make the reader -believe—or even to try to make him believe—that the ghost was capable -of such a sublime piece of impudence; but because, after all, the thing -is impossible. -</P> - -<P> -M. Armand Moncharmin, in chapter eleven of his Memoirs, says: -</P> - -<P> -"When I think of this first evening, I can not separate the secret -confided to us by MM. Debienne and Poligny in their office from the -presence at our supper of that GHOSTLY person whom none of us knew." -</P> - -<P> -What happened was this: Mm. Debienne and Poligny, sitting at the -center of the table, had not seen the man with the death's head. -Suddenly he began to speak. -</P> - -<P> -"The ballet-girls are right," he said. "The death of that poor Buquet -is perhaps not so natural as people think." -</P> - -<P> -Debienne and Poligny gave a start. -</P> - -<P> -"Is Buquet dead?" they cried. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes," replied the man, or the shadow of a man, quietly. "He was -found, this evening, hanging in the third cellar, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore." -</P> - -<P> -The two managers, or rather ex-managers, at once rose and stared -strangely at the speaker. They were more excited than they need have -been, that is to say, more excited than any one need be by the -announcement of the suicide of a chief scene-shifter. They looked at -each other. They, had both turned whiter than the table-cloth. At -last, Debienne made a sign to Mm. Richard and Moncharmin; Poligny -muttered a few words of excuse to the guests; and all four went into -the managers' office. I leave M. Moncharmin to complete the story. In -his Memoirs, he says: -</P> - -<P> -"Mm. Debienne and Poligny seemed to grow more and more excited, and -they appeared to have something very difficult to tell us. First, they -asked us if we knew the man, sitting at the end of the table, who had -told them of the death of Joseph Buquet; and, when we answered in the -negative, they looked still more concerned. They took the master-keys -from our hands, stared at them for a moment and advised us to have new -locks made, with the greatest secrecy, for the rooms, closets and -presses that we might wish to have hermetically closed. They said this -so funnily that we began to laugh and to ask if there were thieves at -the Opera. They replied that there was something worse, which was the -GHOST. We began to laugh again, feeling sure that they were indulging -in some joke that was intended to crown our little entertainment. -Then, at their request, we became 'serious,' resolving to humor them -and to enter into the spirit of the game. They told us that they never -would have spoken to us of the ghost, if they had not received formal -orders from the ghost himself to ask us to be pleasant to him and to -grant any request that he might make. However, in their relief at -leaving a domain where that tyrannical shade held sway, they had -hesitated until the last moment to tell us this curious story, which -our skeptical minds were certainly not prepared to entertain. But the -announcement of the death of Joseph Buquet had served them as a brutal -reminder that, whenever they had disregarded the ghost's wishes, some -fantastic or disastrous event had brought them to a sense of their -dependence. -</P> - -<P> -"During these unexpected utterances made in a tone of the most secret -and important confidence, I looked at Richard. Richard, in his student -days, had acquired a great reputation for practical joking, and he -seemed to relish the dish which was being served up to him in his turn. -He did not miss a morsel of it, though the seasoning was a little -gruesome because of the death of Buquet. He nodded his head sadly, -while the others spoke, and his features assumed the air of a man who -bitterly regretted having taken over the Opera, now that he knew that -there was a ghost mixed up in the business. I could think of nothing -better than to give him a servile imitation of this attitude of -despair. However, in spite of all our efforts, we could not, at the -finish, help bursting out laughing in the faces of MM. Debienne and -Poligny, who, seeing us pass straight from the gloomiest state of mind -to one of the most insolent merriment, acted as though they thought -that we had gone mad. -</P> - -<P> -"The joke became a little tedious; and Richard asked half-seriously and -half in jest: -</P> - -<P> -"'But, after all, what does this ghost of yours want?' -</P> - -<P> -"M. Poligny went to his desk and returned with a copy of the -memorandum-book. The memorandum-book begins with the well-known words -saying that 'the management of the Opera shall give to the performance -of the National Academy of Music the splendor that becomes the first -lyric stage in France' and ends with Clause 98, which says that the -privilege can be withdrawn if the manager infringes the conditions -stipulated in the memorandum-book. This is followed by the conditions, -which are four in number. -</P> - -<P> -"The copy produced by M. Poligny was written in black ink and exactly -similar to that in our possession, except that, at the end, it -contained a paragraph in red ink and in a queer, labored handwriting, -as though it had been produced by dipping the heads of matches into the -ink, the writing of a child that has never got beyond the down-strokes -and has not learned to join its letters. This paragraph ran, word for -word, as follows: -</P> - -<P> -"'5. Or if the manager, in any month, delay for more than a fortnight -the payment of the allowance which he shall make to the Opera ghost, an -allowance of twenty thousand francs a month, say two hundred and forty -thousand francs a year.' -</P> - -<P> -"M. Poligny pointed with a hesitating finger to this last clause, which -we certainly did not expect. -</P> - -<P> -"'Is this all? Does he not want anything else?' asked Richard, with -the greatest coolness. -</P> - -<P> -"'Yes, he does,' replied Poligny. -</P> - -<P> -"And he turned over the pages of the memorandum-book until he came to -the clause specifying the days on which certain private boxes were to -be reserved for the free use of the president of the republic, the -ministers and so on. At the end of this clause, a line had been added, -also in red ink: -</P> - -<P> -"'Box Five on the grand tier shall be placed at the disposal of the -Opera ghost for every performance.' -</P> - -<P> -"When we saw this, there was nothing else for us to do but to rise from -our chairs, shake our two predecessors warmly by the hand and -congratulate them on thinking of this charming little joke, which -proved that the old French sense of humor was never likely to become -extinct. Richard added that he now understood why MM. Debienne and -Poligny were retiring from the management of the National Academy of -Music. Business was impossible with so unreasonable a ghost. -</P> - -<P> -"'Certainly, two hundred and forty thousand francs are not be picked up -for the asking,' said M. Poligny, without moving a muscle of his face. -'And have you considered what the loss over Box Five meant to us? We -did not sell it once; and not only that, but we had to return the -subscription: why, it's awful! We really can't work to keep ghosts! -We prefer to go away!' -</P> - -<P> -"'Yes,' echoed M. Debienne, 'we prefer to go away. Let us go.'" -</P> - -<P> -"And he stood up. Richard said: 'But, after all all, it seems to me -that you were much too kind to the ghost. If I had such a troublesome -ghost as that, I should not hesitate to have him arrested.' -</P> - -<P> -"'But how? Where?' they cried, in chorus. 'We have never seen him!' -</P> - -<P> -"'But when he comes to his box?' -</P> - -<P> -"'WE HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM IN HIS BOX.' -</P> - -<P> -"'Then sell it.' -</P> - -<P> -"'Sell the Opera ghost's box! Well, gentlemen, try it.' -</P> - -<P> -"Thereupon we all four left the office. Richard and I had 'never -laughed so much in our lives.'" -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap04"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter IV Box Five -</H3> - -<P> -Armand Moncharmin wrote such voluminous Memoirs during the fairly long -period of his co-management that we may well ask if he ever found time -to attend to the affairs of the Opera otherwise than by telling what -went on there. M. Moncharmin did not know a note of music, but he -called the minister of education and fine arts by his Christian name, -had dabbled a little in society journalism and enjoyed a considerable -private income. Lastly, he was a charming fellow and showed that he -was not lacking in intelligence, for, as soon as he made up his mind to -be a sleeping partner in the Opera, he selected the best possible -active manager and went straight to Firmin Richard. -</P> - -<P> -Firmin Richard was a very distinguished composer, who had published a -number of successful pieces of all kinds and who liked nearly every -form of music and every sort of musician. Clearly, therefore, it was -the duty of every sort of musician to like M. Firmin Richard. The only -things to be said against him were that he was rather masterful in his -ways and endowed with a very hasty temper. -</P> - -<P> -The first few days which the partners spent at the Opera were given -over to the delight of finding themselves the head of so magnificent an -enterprise; and they had forgotten all about that curious, fantastic -story of the ghost, when an incident occurred that proved to them that -the joke—if joke it were—was not over. M. Firmin Richard reached his -office that morning at eleven o'clock. His secretary, M. Remy, showed -him half a dozen letters which he had not opened because they were -marked "private." One of the letters had at once attracted Richard's -attention not only because the envelope was addressed in red ink, but -because he seemed to have seen the writing before. He soon remembered -that it was the red handwriting in which the memorandum-book had been -so curiously completed. He recognized the clumsy childish hand. He -opened the letter and read: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -DEAR MR. MANAGER: -</P> - -<P> -I am sorry to have to trouble you at a time when you must be so very -busy, renewing important engagements, signing fresh ones and generally -displaying your excellent taste. I know what you have done for -Carlotta, Sorelli and little Jammes and for a few others whose -admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected. -</P> - -<P> -Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them to La -Carlotta, who sings like a squirt and who ought never to have been -allowed to leave the Ambassadeurs and the Cafe Jacquin; nor to La -Sorelli, who owes her success mainly to the coach-builders; nor to -little Jammes, who dances like a calf in a field. And I am not -speaking of Christine Daae either, though her genius is certain, -whereas your jealousy prevents her from creating any important part. -When all is said, you are free to conduct your little business as you -think best, are you not? -</P> - -<P> -All the same, I should like to take advantage of the fact that you have -not yet turned Christine Daae out of doors by hearing her this evening -in the part of Siebel, as that of Margarita has been forbidden her -since her triumph of the other evening; and I will ask you not to -dispose of my box to-day nor on the FOLLOWING DAYS, for I can not end -this letter without telling you how disagreeably surprised I have been -once or twice, to hear, on arriving at the Opera, that my box had been -sold, at the box-office, by your orders. -</P> - -<P> -I did not protest, first, because I dislike scandal, and, second, -because I thought that your predecessors, MM. Debienne and Poligny, who -were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, to mention -my little fads to you. I have now received a reply from those -gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, and this reply proves -that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, consequently, that you -are treating me with outrageous contempt. IF YOU WISH TO LIVE IN -PEACE, YOU MUST NOT BEGIN BY TAKING AWAY MY PRIVATE BOX. -</P> - -<P> -Believe me to be, dear Mr. Manager, without prejudice to these little -observations, -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant,<BR> - OPERA GHOST.<BR> -</P> - -<P> -The letter was accompanied by a cutting from the agony-column of the -Revue Theatrale, which ran: -</P> - -<P> -O. G.—There is no excuse for R. and M. We told them and left your -memorandum-book in their hands. Kind regards. -</P> - -<P> -M. Firmin Richard had hardly finished reading this letter when M. -Armand Moncharmin entered, carrying one exactly similar. They looked -at each other and burst out laughing. -</P> - -<P> -"They are keeping up the joke," said M. Richard, "but I don't call it -funny." -</P> - -<P> -"What does it all mean?" asked M. Moncharmin. "Do they imagine that, -because they have been managers of the Opera, we are going to let them -have a box for an indefinite period?" -</P> - -<P> -"I am not in the mood to let myself be laughed at long," said Firmin -Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"It's harmless enough," observed Armand Moncharmin. "What is it they -really want? A box for to-night?" -</P> - -<P> -M. Firmin Richard told his secretary to send Box Five on the grand tier -to Mm. Debienne and Poligny, if it was not sold. It was not. It was -sent off to them. Debienne lived at the corner of the Rue Scribe and -the Boulevard des Capucines; Poligny, in the Rue Auber. O. Ghost's two -letters had been posted at the Boulevard des Capucines post-office, as -Moncharmin remarked after examining the envelopes. -</P> - -<P> -"You see!" said Richard. -</P> - -<P> -They shrugged their shoulders and regretted that two men of that age -should amuse themselves with such childish tricks. -</P> - -<P> -"They might have been civil, for all that!" said Moncharmin. "Did you -notice how they treat us with regard to Carlotta, Sorelli and Little -Jammes?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, my dear fellow, these two are mad with jealousy! To think that -they went to the expense of, an advertisement in the Revue Theatrale! -Have they nothing better to do?" -</P> - -<P> -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "they seem to be greatly interested in -that little Christine Daae!" -</P> - -<P> -"You know as well as I do that she has the reputation of being quite -good," said Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"Reputations are easily obtained," replied Moncharmin. "Haven't I a -reputation for knowing all about music? And I don't know one key from -another." -</P> - -<P> -"Don't be afraid: you never had that reputation," Richard declared. -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon he ordered the artists to be shown in, who, for the last two -hours, had been walking up and down outside the door behind which fame -and fortune—or dismissal—awaited them. -</P> - -<P> -The whole day was spent in discussing, negotiating, signing or -cancelling contracts; and the two overworked managers went to bed -early, without so much as casting a glance at Box Five to see whether -M. Debienne and M. Poligny were enjoying the performance. -</P> - -<P> -Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -DEAR, MR. MANAGER: -</P> - -<P> -Thanks. Charming evening. Daae exquisite. Choruses want waking up. -Carlotta a splendid commonplace instrument. Will write you soon for -the 240,000 francs, or 233,424 fr. 70 c., to be correct. Mm. Debienne -and Poligny have sent me the 6,575 fr. 30 c. representing the first ten -days of my allowance for the current year; their privileges finished on -the evening of the tenth inst. -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -Kind regards. O. G. -</P> - -<P> -On the other hand, there was a letter from Mm. Debienne and Poligny: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -GENTLEMEN: -</P> - -<P> -We are much obliged for your kind thought of us, but you will easily -understand that the prospect of again hearing Faust, pleasant though it -is to ex-managers of the Opera, can not make us forget that we have no -right to occupy Box Five on the grand tier, which is the exclusive -property of HIM of whom we spoke to you when we went through the -memorandum-book with you for the last time. See Clause 98, final -paragraph. -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -Accept, gentlemen, etc. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, those fellows are beginning to annoy me!" shouted Firmin Richard, -snatching up the letter. -</P> - -<P> -And that evening Box Five was sold. -</P> - -<P> -The next morning, Mm. Richard and Moncharmin, on reaching their office, -found an inspector's report relating to an incident that had happened, -the night before, in Box Five. I give the essential part of the report: -</P> - -<P> -I was obliged to call in a municipal guard twice, this evening, to -clear Box Five on the grand tier, once at the beginning and once in the -middle of the second act. The occupants, who arrived as the curtain -rose on the second act, created a regular scandal by their laughter and -their ridiculous observations. There were cries of "Hush!" all around -them and the whole house was beginning to protest, when the box-keeper -came to fetch me. I entered the box and said what I thought necessary. -The people did not seem to me to be in their right mind; and they made -stupid remarks. I said that, if the noise was repeated, I should be -compelled to clear the box. The moment I left, I heard the laughing -again, with fresh protests from the house. I returned with a municipal -guard, who turned them out. They protested, still laughing, saying -they would not go unless they had their money back. At last, they -became quiet and I allowed them to enter the box again. The laughter -at once recommenced; and, this time, I had them turned out definitely. -</P> - -<P> -"Send for the inspector," said Richard to his secretary, who had -already read the report and marked it with blue pencil. -</P> - -<P> -M. Remy, the secretary, had foreseen the order and called the inspector -at once. -</P> - -<P> -"Tell us what happened," said Richard bluntly. -</P> - -<P> -The inspector began to splutter and referred to the report. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, but what were those people laughing at?" asked Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"They must have been dining, sir, and seemed more inclined to lark -about than to listen to good music. The moment they entered the box, -they came out again and called the box-keeper, who asked them what they -wanted. They said, 'Look in the box: there's no one there, is there?' -'No,' said the woman. 'Well,' said they, 'when we went in, we heard a -voice saying THAT THE BOX WAS TAKEN!'" -</P> - -<P> -M. Moncharmin could not help smiling as he looked at M. Richard; but M. -Richard did not smile. He himself had done too much in that way in his -time not to recognize, in the inspector's story, all the marks of one -of those practical jokes which begin by amusing and end by enraging the -victims. The inspector, to curry favor with M. Moncharmin, who was -smiling, thought it best to give a smile too. A most unfortunate -smile! M. Richard glared at his subordinate, who thenceforth made it -his business to display a face of utter consternation. -</P> - -<P> -"However, when the people arrived," roared Richard, "there was no one -in the box, was there?" -</P> - -<P> -"Not a soul, sir, not a soul! Nor in the box on the right, nor in the -box on the left: not a soul, sir, I swear! The box-keeper told it me -often enough, which proves that it was all a joke." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, you agree, do you?" said Richard. "You agree! It's a joke! And -you think it funny, no doubt?" -</P> - -<P> -"I think it in very bad taste, sir." -</P> - -<P> -"And what did the box-keeper say?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, she just said that it was the Opera ghost. That's all she said!" -</P> - -<P> -And the inspector grinned. But he soon found that he had made a -mistake in grinning, for the words had no sooner left his mouth than M. -Richard, from gloomy, became furious. -</P> - -<P> -"Send for the box-keeper!" he shouted. "Send for her! This minute! -This minute! And bring her in to me here! And turn all those people -out!" -</P> - -<P> -The inspector tried to protest, but Richard closed his mouth with an -angry order to hold his tongue. Then, when the wretched man's lips -seemed shut for ever, the manager commanded him to open them once more. -</P> - -<P> -"Who is this 'Opera ghost?'" he snarled. -</P> - -<P> -But the inspector was by this time incapable of speaking a word. He -managed to convey, by a despairing gesture, that he knew nothing about -it, or rather that he did not wish to know. -</P> - -<P> -"Have you ever seen him, have you seen the Opera ghost?" -</P> - -<P> -The inspector, by means of a vigorous shake of the head, denied ever -having seen the ghost in question. -</P> - -<P> -"Very well!" said M. Richard coldly. -</P> - -<P> -The inspector's eyes started out of his head, as though to ask why the -manager had uttered that ominous "Very well!" -</P> - -<P> -"Because I'm going to settle the account of any one who has not seen -him!" explained the manager. "As he seems to be everywhere, I can't -have people telling me that they see him nowhere. I like people to -work for me when I employ them!" -</P> - -<P> -Having said this, M. Richard paid no attention to the inspector and -discussed various matters of business with his acting-manager, who had -entered the room meanwhile. The inspector thought he could go and was -gently—oh, so gently!—sidling toward the door, when M. Richard nailed -the man to the floor with a thundering: -</P> - -<P> -"Stay where you are!" -</P> - -<P> -M. Remy had sent for the box-keeper to the Rue de Provence, close to -the Opera, where she was engaged as a porteress. She soon made her -appearance. -</P> - -<P> -"What's your name?" -</P> - -<P> -"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother of little -Giry, little Meg, what!" -</P> - -<P> -This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, M. -Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, her -worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite -evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know or -could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, nor even -"little Meg!" But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that the celebrated -box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her. -</P> - -<P> -"Never heard of her!" the manager declared. "But that's no reason, -Mme. Giry, why I shouldn't ask you what happened last night to make you -and the inspector call in a municipal guard." -</P> - -<P> -"I was just wanting to see you, sir, and talk to you about it, so that -you mightn't have the same unpleasantness as M. Debienne and M. -Poligny. They wouldn't listen to me either, at first." -</P> - -<P> -"I'm not asking you about all that. I'm asking what happened last -night." -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry turned purple with indignation. Never had she been spoken to -like that. She rose as though to go, gathering up the folds of her -skirt and waving the feathers of her dingy bonnet with dignity, but, -changing her mind, she sat down again and said, in a haughty voice: -</P> - -<P> -"I'll tell you what happened. The ghost was annoyed again!" -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon, as M. Richard was on the point of bursting out, M. -Moncharmin interfered and conducted the interrogatory, whence it -appeared that Mme. Giry thought it quite natural that a voice should be -heard to say that a box was taken, when there was nobody in the box. -She was unable to explain this phenomenon, which was not new to her, -except by the intervention of the ghost. Nobody could see the ghost in -his box, but everybody could hear him. She had often heard him; and -they could believe her, for she always spoke the truth. They could ask -M. Debienne and M. Poligny, and anybody who knew her; and also M. -Isidore Saack, who had had a leg broken by the ghost! -</P> - -<P> -"Indeed!" said Moncharmin, interrupting her. "Did the ghost break poor -Isidore Saack's leg?" -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry opened her eyes with astonishment at such ignorance. -However, she consented to enlighten those two poor innocents. The -thing had happened in M. Debienne and M. Poligny's time, also in Box -Five and also during a performance of FAUST. Mme. Giry coughed, -cleared her throat—it sounded as though she were preparing to sing the -whole of Gounod's score—and began: -</P> - -<P> -"It was like this, sir. That night, M. Maniera and his lady, the -jewelers in the Rue Mogador, were sitting in the front of the box, with -their great friend, M. Isidore Saack, sitting behind Mme. Maniera. -Mephistopheles was singing"—Mme. Giry here burst into song -herself—"'Catarina, while you play at sleeping,' and then M. Maniera -heard a voice in his right ear (his wife was on his left) saying, 'Ha, -ha! Julie's not playing at sleeping!' His wife happened to be called -Julie. So. M. Maniera turns to the right to see who was talking to -him like that. Nobody there! He rubs his ear and asks himself, if -he's dreaming. Then Mephistopheles went on with his serenade... But, -perhaps I'm boring you gentlemen?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, no, go on." -</P> - -<P> -"You are too good, gentlemen," with a smirk. "Well, then, -Mephistopheles went on with his serenade"—Mme. Giry, burst into song -again—"'Saint, unclose thy portals holy and accord the bliss, to a -mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss.' And then M. Maniera again -hears the voice in his right ear, saying, this time, 'Ha, ha! Julie -wouldn't mind according a kiss to Isidore!' Then he turns round again, -but, this time, to the left; and what do you think he sees? Isidore, -who had taken his lady's hand and was covering it with kisses through -the little round place in the glove—like this, gentlemen"—rapturously -kissing the bit of palm left bare in the middle of her thread gloves. -"Then they had a lively time between them! Bang! Bang! M. Maniera, -who was big and strong, like you, M. Richard, gave two blows to M. -Isidore Saack, who was small and weak like M. Moncharmin, saving his -presence. There was a great uproar. People in the house shouted, -'That will do! Stop them! He'll kill him!' Then, at last, M. Isidore -Saack managed to run away." -</P> - -<P> -"Then the ghost had not broken his leg?" asked M. Moncharmin, a little -vexed that his figure had made so little impression on Mme. Giry. -</P> - -<P> -"He did break it for him, sir," replied Mme. Giry haughtily. "He broke -it for him on the grand staircase, which he ran down too fast, sir, and -it will be long before the poor gentleman will be able to go up it -again!" -</P> - -<P> -"Did the ghost tell you what he said in M. Maniera's right ear?" asked -M. Moncharmin, with a gravity which he thought exceedingly humorous. -</P> - -<P> -"No, sir, it was M. Maniera himself. So——" -</P> - -<P> -"But you have spoken to the ghost, my good lady?" -</P> - -<P> -"As I'm speaking to you now, my good sir!" Mme. Giry replied. -</P> - -<P> -"And, when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, he tells me to bring him a footstool!" -</P> - -<P> -This time, Richard burst out laughing, as did Moncharmin and Remy, the -secretary. Only the inspector, warned by experience, was careful not -to laugh, while Mme. Giry ventured to adopt an attitude that was -positively threatening. -</P> - -<P> -"Instead of laughing," she cried indignantly, "you'd do better to do as -M. Poligny did, who found out for himself." -</P> - -<P> -"Found out about what?" asked Moncharmin, who had never been so much -amused in his life. -</P> - -<P> -"About the ghost, of course! ... Look here ..." -</P> - -<P> -She suddenly calmed herself, feeling that this was a solemn moment in -her life: -</P> - -<P> -"LOOK HERE," she repeated. "They were playing La Juive. M. Poligny -thought he would watch the performance from the ghost's box... Well, -when Leopold cries, 'Let us fly!'—you know—and Eleazer stops them and -says, 'Whither go ye?' ... well, M. Poligny—I was watching him from -the back of the next box, which was empty—M. Poligny got up and walked -out quite stiffly, like a statue, and before I had time to ask him, -'Whither go ye?' like Eleazer, he was down the staircase, but without -breaking his leg. -</P> - -<P> -"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask you -for a footstool," insisted M. Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, from that evening, no one tried to take the ghost's private box -from him. The manager gave orders that he was to have it at each -performance. And, whenever he came, he asked me for a footstool." -</P> - -<P> -"Tut, tut! A ghost asking for a footstool! Then this ghost of yours -is a woman?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, the ghost is a man." -</P> - -<P> -"How do you know?" -</P> - -<P> -"He has a man's voice, oh, such a lovely man's voice! This is what -happens: When he comes to the opera, it's usually in the middle of the -first act. He gives three little taps on the door of Box Five. The -first time I heard those three taps, when I knew there was no one in -the box, you can think how puzzled I was! I opened the door, listened, -looked; nobody! And then I heard a voice say, 'Mme. Jules' my poor -husband's name was Jules—'a footstool, please.' Saving your presence, -gentlemen, it made me feel all-overish like. But the voice went on, -'Don't be frightened, Mme. Jules, I'm the Opera ghost!' And the voice -was so soft and kind that I hardly felt frightened. THE VOICE WAS -SITTING IN THE CORNER CHAIR, ON THE RIGHT, IN THE FRONT ROW." -</P> - -<P> -"Was there any one in the box on the right of Box Five?" asked -Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"No; Box Seven, and Box Three, the one on the left, were both empty. -The curtain had only just gone up." -</P> - -<P> -"And what did you do?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, I brought the footstool. Of course, it wasn't for himself he -wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her." -</P> - -<P> -"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!" The eyes of the two -managers traveled from Mme. Giry to the inspector, who, standing behind -the box-keeper, was waving his arms to attract their attention. He -tapped his forehead with a distressful forefinger, to convey his -opinion that the widow Jules Giry was most certainly mad, a piece of -pantomime which confirmed M. Richard in his determination to get rid of -an inspector who kept a lunatic in his service. Meanwhile, the worthy -lady went on about her ghost, now painting his generosity: -</P> - -<P> -"At the end of the performance, he always gives me two francs, -sometimes five, sometimes even ten, when he has been many days without -coming. Only, since people have begun to annoy him again, he gives me -nothing at all. -</P> - -<P> -"Excuse me, my good woman," said Moncharmin, while Mme. Giry tossed the -feathers in her dingy hat at this persistent familiarity, "excuse me, -how does the ghost manage to give you your two francs?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course. I find -them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, I find -flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his lady's -bodice ... for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, they left -a fan behind them." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, the ghost left a fan, did he? And what did you do with it?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, I brought it back to the box next night." -</P> - -<P> -Here the inspector's voice was raised. -</P> - -<P> -"You've broken the rules; I shall have to fine you, Mme. Giry." -</P> - -<P> -"Hold your tongue, you fool!" muttered M. Firmin Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"You brought back the fan. And then?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, then, they took it away with them, sir; it was not there at the -end of the performance; and in its place they left me a box of English -sweets, which I'm very fond of. That's one of the ghost's pretty -thoughts." -</P> - -<P> -"That will do, Mme. Giry. You can go." -</P> - -<P> -When Mme. Giry had bowed herself out, with the dignity that never -deserted her, the manager told the inspector that they had decided to -dispense with that old madwoman's services; and, when he had gone in -his turn, they instructed the acting-manager to make up the inspector's -accounts. Left alone, the managers told each other of the idea which -they both had in mind, which was that they should look into that little -matter of Box Five themselves. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap05"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter V The Enchanted Violin -</H3> - -<P> -Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, did -not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera. After the famous -gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; but this was the -last occasion on which she was heard in private. She refused, without -plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert to which she had -promised her assistance. She acted throughout as though she were no -longer the mistress of her own destiny and as though she feared a fresh -triumph. -</P> - -<P> -She knew that the Comte de Chagny, to please his brother, had done his -best on her behalf with M. Richard; and she wrote to thank him and also -to ask him to cease speaking in her favor. Her reason for this curious -attitude was never known. Some pretended that it was due to -overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty. But people on -the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think that I shall not -be far from the truth if I ascribe her action simply to fear. Yes, I -believe that Christine Daae was frightened by what had happened to her. -I have a letter of Christine's (it forms part of the Persian's -collection), relating to this period, which suggests a feeling of -absolute dismay: -</P> - -<P> -"I don't know myself when I sing," writes the poor child. -</P> - -<P> -She showed herself nowhere; and the Vicomte de Chagny tried in vain to -meet her. He wrote to her, asking to call upon her, but despaired of -receiving a reply when, one morning, she sent him the following note: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -MONSIEUR: -</P> - -<P> -I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea to rescue my -scarf. I feel that I must write to you to-day, when I am going to -Perros, in fulfilment of a sacred duty. To-morrow is the anniversary -of the death of my poor father, whom you knew and who was very fond of -you. He is buried there, with his violin, in the graveyard of the -little church, at the bottom of the slope where we used to play as -children, beside the road where, when we were a little bigger, we said -good-by for the last time. -</P> - -<P> -The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, dressed as -quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet to take to his -brother and jumped into a cab which brought him to the Gare -Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train. He spent a dismal -day in town and did not recover his spirits until the evening, when he -was seated in his compartment in the Brittany express. He read -Christine's note over and over again, smelling its perfume, recalling -the sweet pictures of his childhood, and spent the rest of that tedious -night journey in feverish dreams that began and ended with Christine -Daae. Day was breaking when he alighted at Lannion. He hurried to the -diligence for Perros-Guirec. He was the only passenger. He questioned -the driver and learned that, on the evening of the previous day, a -young lady who looked like a Parisian had gone to Perros and put up at -the inn known as the Setting Sun. -</P> - -<P> -The nearer he drew to her, the more fondly he remembered the story of -the little Swedish singer. Most of the details are still unknown to -the public. -</P> - -<P> -There was once, in a little market-town not far from Upsala, a peasant -who lived there with his family, digging the earth during the week and -singing in the choir on Sundays. This peasant had a little daughter to -whom he taught the musical alphabet before she knew how to read. -Daae's father was a great musician, perhaps without knowing it. Not a -fiddler throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia played as he -did. His reputation was widespread and he was always invited to set -the couples dancing at weddings and other festivals. His wife died -when Christine was entering upon her sixth year. Then the father, who -cared only for his daughter and his music, sold his patch of ground and -went to Upsala in search of fame and fortune. He found nothing but -poverty. -</P> - -<P> -He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, strumming his -Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never left his side, -listened to him in ecstasy or sang to his playing. One day, at Ljimby -Fair, Professor Valerius heard them and took them to Gothenburg. He -maintained that the father was the first violinist in the world and -that the daughter had the making of a great artist. Her education and -instruction were provided for. She made rapid progress and charmed -everybody with her prettiness, her grace of manner and her genuine -eagerness to please. -</P> - -<P> -When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae and -Christine with them. "Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as her -daughter. As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness. He -never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream which he -kept up with his violin. For hours at a time, he remained locked up in -his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, very, very softly. -Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen behind the door, wipe -away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, sighing for her -Scandinavian skies. -</P> - -<P> -Daae seemed not to recover his strength until the summer, when the -whole family went to stay at Perros-Guirec, in a far-away corner of -Brittany, where the sea was of the same color as in his own country. -Often he would play his saddest tunes on the beach and pretend that the -sea stopped its roaring to listen to them. And then he induced Mamma -Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his. At the time of the "pardons," -or Breton pilgrimages, the village festival and dances, he went off -with his fiddle, as in the old days, and was allowed to take his -daughter with him for a week. They gave the smallest hamlets music to -last them for a year and slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at -the inn, lying close together on the straw, as when they were so poor -in Sweden. At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no -collection, refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around -could not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped -the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven. -They followed them from village to village. -</P> - -<P> -One day, a little boy, who was out with his governess, made her take a -longer walk than he intended, for he could not tear himself from the -little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed to bind him to her. They -came to the shore of an inlet which is still called Trestraou, but -which now, I believe, harbors a casino or something of the sort. At -that time, there was nothing but sky and sea and a stretch of golden -beach. Only, there was also a high wind, which blew Christine's scarf -out to sea. Christine gave a cry and put out her arms, but the scarf -was already far on the waves. Then she heard a voice say: -</P> - -<P> -"It's all right, I'll go and fetch your scarf out of the sea." -</P> - -<P> -And she saw a little boy running fast, in spite of the outcries and the -indignant protests of a worthy lady in black. The little boy ran into -the sea, dressed as he was, and brought her back her scarf. Boy and -scarf were both soaked through. The lady in black made a great fuss, -but Christine laughed merrily and kissed the little boy, who was none -other than the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, staying at Lannion with his -aunt. -</P> - -<P> -During the season, they saw each other and played together almost every -day. At the aunt's request, seconded by Professor Valerius, Daae -consented to give the young viscount some violin lessons. In this way, -Raoul learned to love the same airs that had charmed Christine's -childhood. They also both had the same calm and dreamy little cast of -mind. They delighted in stories, in old Breton legends; and their -favorite sport was to go and ask for them at the cottage-doors, like -beggars: -</P> - -<P> -"Ma'am ..." or, "Kind gentleman ... have you a little story to tell us, -please?" -</P> - -<P> -And it seldom happened that they did not have one "given" them; for -nearly every old Breton grandame has, at least once in her life, seen -the "korrigans" dance by moonlight on the heather. -</P> - -<P> -But their great treat was, in the twilight, in the great silence of the -evening, after the sun had set in the sea, when Daae came and sat down -by them on the roadside and, in a low voice, as though fearing lest he -should frighten the ghosts whom he evoked, told them the legends of the -land of the North. And, the moment he stopped, the children would ask -for more. -</P> - -<P> -There was one story that began: -</P> - -<P> -"A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep, still lakes that -open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian mountains ..." -</P> - -<P> -And another: -</P> - -<P> -"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden -as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes. She -wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her frock -and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, when -she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music." -</P> - -<P> -While the old man told this story, Raoul looked at Christine's blue -eyes and golden hair; and Christine thought that Lotte was very lucky -to hear the Angel of Music when she went to sleep. The Angel of Music -played a part in all Daddy Daae's tales; and he maintained that every -great musician, every great artist received a visit from the Angel at -least once in his life. Sometimes the Angel leans over their cradle, -as happened to Lotte, and that is how there are little prodigies who -play the fiddle at six better than men at fifty, which, you must admit, -is very wonderful. Sometimes, the Angel comes much later, because the -children are naughty and won't learn their lessons or practise their -scales. And, sometimes, he does not come at all, because the children -have a bad heart or a bad conscience. -</P> - -<P> -No one ever sees the Angel; but he is heard by those who are meant to -hear him. He often comes when they least expect him, when they are sad -and disheartened. Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial -harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives. -Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown to -the rest of mankind. And they can not touch an instrument, or open -their mouths to sing, without producing sounds that put all other human -sounds to shame. Then people who do not know that the Angel has -visited those persons say that they have genius. -</P> - -<P> -Little Christine asked her father if he had heard the Angel of Music. -But Daddy Daae shook his head sadly; and then his eyes lit up, as he -said: -</P> - -<P> -"You will hear him one day, my child! When I am in Heaven, I will send -him to you!" -</P> - -<P> -Daddy was beginning to cough at that time. -</P> - -<P> -Three years later, Raoul and Christine met again at Perros. Professor -Valerius was dead, but his widow remained in France with Daddy Daae and -his daughter, who continued to play the violin and sing, wrapping in -their dream of harmony their kind patroness, who seemed henceforth to -live on music alone. The young man, as he now was, had come to Perros -on the chance of finding them and went straight to the house in which -they used to stay. He first saw the old man; and then Christine -entered, carrying the tea-tray. She flushed at the sight of Raoul, who -went up to her and kissed her. She asked him a few questions, -performed her duties as hostess prettily, took up the tray again and -left the room. Then she ran into the garden and took refuge on a -bench, a prey to feelings that stirred her young heart for the first -time. Raoul followed her and they talked till the evening, very shyly. -They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each -other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments. -When they took leave of each other by the roadside, Raoul, pressing a -kiss on Christine's trembling hand, said: -</P> - -<P> -"Mademoiselle, I shall never forget you!" -</P> - -<P> -And he went away regretting his words, for he knew that Christine could -not be the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny. -</P> - -<P> -As for Christine, she tried not to think of him and devoted herself -wholly to her art. She made wonderful progress and those who heard her -prophesied that she would be the greatest singer in the world. -Meanwhile, the father died; and, suddenly, she seemed to have lost, -with him, her voice, her soul and her genius. She retained just, but -only just, enough of this to enter the CONSERVATOIRE, where she did not -distinguish herself at all, attending the classes without enthusiasm -and taking a prize only to please old Mamma Valerius, with whom she -continued to live. -</P> - -<P> -The first time that Raoul saw Christine at the Opera, he was charmed by -the girl's beauty and by the sweet images of the past which it evoked, -but was rather surprised at the negative side of her art. He returned -to listen to her. He followed her in the wings. He waited for her -behind a Jacob's ladder. He tried to attract her attention. More than -once, he walked after her to the door of her box, but she did not see -him. She seemed, for that matter, to see nobody. She was all -indifference. Raoul suffered, for she was very beautiful and he was -shy and dared not confess his love, even to himself. And then came the -lightning-flash of the gala performance: the heavens torn asunder and -an angel's voice heard upon earth for the delight of mankind and the -utter capture of his heart. -</P> - -<P> -And then ... and then there was that man's voice behind the door—"You -must love me!"—and no one in the room... -</P> - -<P> -Why did she laugh when he reminded her of the incident of the scarf? -Why did she not recognize him? And why had she written to him? ... -</P> - -<P> -Perros was reached at last. Raoul walked into the smoky sitting-room -of the Setting Sun and at once saw Christine standing before him, -smiling and showing no astonishment. -</P> - -<P> -"So you have come," she said. "I felt that I should find you here, -when I came back from mass. Some one told me so, at the church." -</P> - -<P> -"Who?" asked Raoul, taking her little hand in his. -</P> - -<P> -"Why, my poor father, who is dead." -</P> - -<P> -There was a silence; and then Raoul asked: -</P> - -<P> -"Did your father tell you that I love you, Christine, and that I can -not live without you?" -</P> - -<P> -Christine blushed to the eyes and turned away her head. In a trembling -voice, she said: -</P> - -<P> -"Me? You are dreaming, my friend!" -</P> - -<P> -And she burst out laughing, to put herself in countenance. -</P> - -<P> -"Don't laugh, Christine; I am quite serious," Raoul answered. -</P> - -<P> -And she replied gravely: "I did not make you come to tell me such -things as that." -</P> - -<P> -"You 'made me come,' Christine; you knew that your letter would not -leave me indignant and that I should hasten to Perros. How can you -have thought that, if you did not think I loved you?" -</P> - -<P> -"I thought you would remember our games here, as children, in which my -father so often joined. I really don't know what I thought... Perhaps -I was wrong to write to you ... This anniversary and your sudden -appearance in my room at the Opera, the other evening, reminded me of -the time long past and made me write to you as the little girl that I -then was..." -</P> - -<P> -There was something in Christine's attitude that seemed to Raoul not -natural. He did not feel any hostility in her; far from it: the -distressed affection shining in her eyes told him that. But why was -this affection distressed? That was what he wished to know and what -was irritating him. -</P> - -<P> -"When you saw me in your dressing-room, was that the first time you -noticed me, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -She was incapable of lying. -</P> - -<P> -"No," she said, "I had seen you several times in your brother's box. -And also on the stage." -</P> - -<P> -"I thought so!" said Raoul, compressing his lips. "But then why, when -you saw me in your room, at your feet, reminding you that I had rescued -your scarf from the sea, why did you answer as though you did not know -me and also why did you laugh?" -</P> - -<P> -The tone of these questions was so rough that Christine stared at Raoul -without replying. The young man himself was aghast at the sudden -quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment when he had -resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and submission to -Christine. A husband, a lover with all rights, would talk no -differently to a wife, a mistress who had offended him. But he had -gone too far and saw no other way out of the ridiculous position than -to behave odiously. -</P> - -<P> -"You don't answer!" he said angrily and unhappily. "Well, I will -answer for you. It was because there was some one in the room who was -in your way, Christine, some one that you did not wish to know that you -could be interested in any one else!" -</P> - -<P> -"If any one was in my way, my friend," Christine broke in coldly, "if -any one was in my way, that evening, it was yourself, since I told you -to leave the room!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, so that you might remain with the other!" -</P> - -<P> -"What are you saying, monsieur?" asked the girl excitedly. "And to -what other do you refer?" -</P> - -<P> -"To the man to whom you said, 'I sing only for you! ... to-night I gave -you my soul and I am dead!'" -</P> - -<P> -Christine seized Raoul's arm and clutched it with a strength which no -one would have suspected in so frail a creature. -</P> - -<P> -"Then you were listening behind the door?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, because I love you everything ... And I heard everything ..." -</P> - -<P> -"You heard what?" -</P> - -<P> -And the young girl, becoming strangely calm, released Raoul's arm. -</P> - -<P> -"He said to you, 'Christine, you must love me!'" -</P> - -<P> -At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, dark -rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the point of -swooning. Raoul darted forward, with arms outstretched, but Christine -had overcome her passing faintness and said, in a low voice: -</P> - -<P> -"Go on! Go on! Tell me all you heard!" -</P> - -<P> -At an utter loss to understand, Raoul answered: "I heard him reply, -when you said you had given him your soul, 'Your soul is a beautiful -thing, child, and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a -gift. The angels wept tonight.'" -</P> - -<P> -Christine carried her hand to her heart, a prey to indescribable -emotion. Her eyes stared before her like a madwoman's. Raoul was -terror-stricken. But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened and two great -tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul!" -</P> - -<P> -The young man tried to take her in his arms, but she escaped and fled -in great disorder. -</P> - -<P> -While Christine remained locked in her room, Raoul was at his wit's end -what to do. He refused to breakfast. He was terribly concerned and -bitterly grieved to see the hours, which he had hoped to find so sweet, -slip past without the presence of the young Swedish girl. Why did she -not come to roam with him through the country where they had so many -memories in common? He heard that she had had a mass said, that -morning, for the repose of her father's soul and spent a long time -praying in the little church and on the fiddler's tomb. Then, as she -seemed to have nothing more to do at Perros and, in fact, was doing -nothing there, why did she not go back to Paris at once? -</P> - -<P> -Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church -stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; -but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the -dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground. -They were marvelous red roses that had blossomed in the morning, in the -snow, giving a glimpse of life among the dead, for death was all around -him. It also, like the flowers, issued from the ground, which had -flung back a number of its corpses. Skeletons and skulls by the -hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in position by -a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible. Dead men's bones, -arranged in rows, like bricks, to form the first course upon which the -walls of the sacristy had been built. The door of the sacristy opened -in the middle of that bony structure, as is often seen in old Breton -churches. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul said a prayer for Daae and then, painfully impressed by all those -eternal smiles on the mouths of skulls, he climbed the slope and sat -down on the edge of the heath overlooking the sea. The wind fell with -the evening. Raoul was surrounded by icy darkness, but he did not feel -the cold. It was here, he remembered, that he used to come with little -Christine to see the Korrigans dance at the rising of the moon. He had -never seen any, though his eyes were good, whereas Christine, who was a -little shortsighted, pretended that she had seen many. He smiled at -the thought and then suddenly gave a start. A voice behind him said: -</P> - -<P> -"Do you think the Korrigans will come this evening?" -</P> - -<P> -It was Christine. He tried to speak. She put her gloved hand on his -mouth. -</P> - -<P> -"Listen, Raoul. I have decided to tell you something serious, very -serious ... Do you remember the legend of the Angel of Music?" -</P> - -<P> -"I do indeed," he said. "I believe it was here that your father first -told it to us." -</P> - -<P> -"And it was here that he said, 'When I am in Heaven, my child, I will -send him to you.' Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, and I have been -visited by the Angel of Music." -</P> - -<P> -"I have no doubt of it," replied the young man gravely, for it seemed -to him that his friend, in obedience to a pious thought, was connecting -the memory of her father with the brilliancy of her last triumph. -</P> - -<P> -Christine appeared astonished at the Vicomte de Chagny's coolness: -</P> - -<P> -"How do you understand it?" she asked, bringing her pale face so close -to his that he might have thought that Christine was going to give him -a kiss; but she only wanted to read his eyes in spite of the dark. -</P> - -<P> -"I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you sang the -other evening without the intervention of some miracle. No professor -on earth can teach you such accents as those. You have heard the Angel -of Music, Christine." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes," she said solemnly, "IN MY DRESSING-ROOM. That is where he comes -to give me my lessons daily." -</P> - -<P> -"In your dressing-room?" he echoed stupidly. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, that is where I have heard him; and I have not been the only one -to hear him." -</P> - -<P> -"Who else heard him, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"You, my friend." -</P> - -<P> -"I? I heard the Angel of Music?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, the other evening, it was he who was talking when you were -listening behind the door. It was he who said, 'You must love me.' But -I then thought that I was the only one to hear his voice. Imagine my -astonishment when you told me, this morning, that you could hear him -too." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul burst out laughing. The first rays of the moon came and shrouded -the two young people in their light. Christine turned on Raoul with a -hostile air. Her eyes, usually so gentle, flashed fire. -</P> - -<P> -"What are you laughing at? YOU think you heard a man's voice, I -suppose?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well! ..." replied the young man, whose ideas began to grow confused -in the face of Christine's determined attitude. -</P> - -<P> -"It's you, Raoul, who say that? You, an old playfellow of my own! A -friend of my father's! But you have changed since those days. What are -you thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, and I -don't lock myself up in my dressing-room with men's voices. If you had -opened the door, you would have seen that there was nobody in the room!" -</P> - -<P> -"That's true! I did open the door, when you were gone, and I found no -one in the room." -</P> - -<P> -"So you see! ... Well?" -</P> - -<P> -The viscount summoned up all his courage. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, Christine, I think that somebody is making game of you." -</P> - -<P> -She gave a cry and ran away. He ran after her, but, in a tone of -fierce anger, she called out: "Leave me! Leave me!" And she -disappeared. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul returned to the inn feeling very weary, very low-spirited and -very sad. He was told that Christine had gone to her bedroom saying -that she would not be down to dinner. Raoul dined alone, in a very -gloomy mood. Then he went to his room and tried to read, went to bed -and tried to sleep. There was no sound in the next room. -</P> - -<P> -The hours passed slowly. It was about half-past eleven when he -distinctly heard some one moving, with a light, stealthy step, in the -room next to his. Then Christine had not gone to bed! Without -troubling for a reason, Raoul dressed, taking care not to make a sound, -and waited. Waited for what? How could he tell? But his heart -thumped in his chest when he heard Christine's door turn slowly on its -hinges. Where could she be going, at this hour, when every one was -fast asleep at Perros? Softly opening the door, he saw Christine's -white form, in the moonlight, slipping along the passage. She went -down the stairs and he leaned over the baluster above her. Suddenly he -heard two voices in rapid conversation. He caught one sentence: "Don't -lose the key." -</P> - -<P> -It was the landlady's voice. The door facing the sea was opened and -locked again. Then all was still. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul ran back to his room and threw back the window. Christine's -white form stood on the deserted quay. -</P> - -<P> -The first floor of the Setting Sun was at no great height and a tree -growing against the wall held out its branches to Raoul's impatient -arms and enabled him to climb down unknown to the landlady. Her -amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, the -young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead than alive, -and when she learned that he had been found stretched at full length on -the steps of the high altar of the little church. She ran at once to -tell Christine, who hurried down and, with the help of the landlady, -did her best to revive him. He soon opened his eyes and was not long -in recovering when he saw his friend's charming face leaning over him. -</P> - -<P> -A few weeks later, when the tragedy at the Opera compelled the -intervention of the public prosecutor, M. Mifroid, the commissary of -police, examined the Vicomte de Chagny touching the events of the night -at Perros. I quote the questions and answers as given in the official -report pp. 150 et seq.: -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Did Mlle. Daae not see you come down from your room by the curious -road which you selected?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "No, monsieur, no, although, when walking behind her, I took no -pains to deaden the sound of my footsteps. In fact, I was anxious that -she should turn round and see me. I realized that I had no excuse for -following her and that this way of spying on her was unworthy of me. -But she seemed not to hear me and acted exactly as though I were not -there. She quietly left the quay and then suddenly walked quickly up -the road. The church-clock had struck a quarter to twelve and I -thought that this must have made her hurry, for she began almost to run -and continued hastening until she came to the church." -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Was the gate open?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "Yes, monsieur, and this surprised me, but did not seem to surprise -Mlle. Daae." -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Was there no one in the churchyard?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "I did not see any one; and, if there had been, I must have seen -him. The moon was shining on the snow and made the night quite light." -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Was it possible for any one to hide behind the tombstones?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "No, monsieur. They were quite small, poor tombstones, partly -hidden under the snow, with their crosses just above the level of the -ground. The only shadows were those of the crosses and ourselves. The -church stood out quite brightly. I never saw so clear a night. It was -very fine and very cold and one could see everything." -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Are you at all superstitious?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "No, monsieur, I am a practising Catholic," -</P> - -<P> -Q. "In what condition of mind were you?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "Very healthy and peaceful, I assure you. Mlle. Daae's curious -action in going out at that hour had worried me at first; but, as soon -as I saw her go to the churchyard, I thought that she meant to fulfil -some pious duty on her father's grave and I considered this so natural -that I recovered all my calmness. I was only surprised that she had -not heard me walking behind her, for my footsteps were quite audible on -the hard snow. But she must have been taken up with her intentions and -I resolved not to disturb her. She knelt down by her father's grave, -made the sign of the cross and began to pray. At that moment, it -struck midnight. At the last stroke, I saw Mlle. Daae life{sic} her -eyes to the sky and stretch out her arms as though in ecstasy. I was -wondering what the reason could be, when I myself raised my head and -everything within me seemed drawn toward the invisible, WHICH WAS -PLAYING THE MOST PERFECT MUSIC! Christine and I knew that music; we -had heard it as children. But it had never been executed with such -divine art, even by M. Daae. I remembered all that Christine had told -me of the Angel of Music. The air was The Resurrection of Lazarus, -which old M. Daae used to play to us in his hours of melancholy and of -faith. If Christine's Angel had existed, he could not have played -better, that night, on the late musician's violin. When the music -stopped, I seemed to hear a noise from the skulls in the heap of bones; -it was as though they were chuckling and I could not help shuddering." -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Did it not occur to you that the musician might be hiding behind -that very heap of bones?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "It was the one thought that did occur to me, monsieur, so much so -that I omitted to follow Mlle. Daae, when she stood up and walked -slowly to the gate. She was so much absorbed just then that I am not -surprised that she did not see me." -</P> - -<P> -Q. "Then what happened that you were found in the morning lying -half-dead on the steps of the high altar?" -</P> - -<P> -R. "First a skull rolled to my feet ... then another ... then another -... It was as if I were the mark of that ghastly game of bowls. And I -had an idea that false step must have destroyed the balance of the -structure behind which our musician was concealed. This surmise seemed -to be confirmed when I saw a shadow suddenly glide along the sacristy -wall. I ran up. The shadow had already pushed open the door and -entered the church. But I was quicker than the shadow and caught hold -of a corner of its cloak. At that moment, we were just in front of the -high altar; and the moonbeams fell straight upon us through the -stained-glass windows of the apse. As I did not let go of the cloak, -the shadow turned round; and I saw a terrible death's head, which -darted a look at me from a pair of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were -face to face with Satan; and, in the presence of this unearthly -apparition, my heart gave way, my courage failed me ... and I remember -nothing more until I recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun." -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap06"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter VI A Visit to Box Five -</H3> - -<P> -We left M. Firmin Richard and M. Armand Moncharmin at the moment when -they were deciding "to look into that little matter of Box Five." -</P> - -<P> -Leaving behind them the broad staircase which leads from the lobby -outside the managers' offices to the stage and its dependencies, they -crossed the stage, went out by the subscribers' door and entered the -house through the first little passage on the left. Then they made -their way through the front rows of stalls and looked at Box Five on -the grand tier, They could not see it well, because it was half in -darkness and because great covers were flung over the red velvet of the -ledges of all the boxes. -</P> - -<P> -They were almost alone in the huge, gloomy house; and a great silence -surrounded them. It was the time when most of the stage-hands go out -for a drink. The staff had left the boards for the moment, leaving a -scene half set. A few rays of light, a wan, sinister light, that -seemed to have been stolen from an expiring luminary, fell through some -opening or other upon an old tower that raised its pasteboard -battlements on the stage; everything, in this deceptive light, adopted -a fantastic shape. In the orchestra stalls, the drugget covering them -looked like an angry sea, whose glaucous waves had been suddenly -rendered stationary by a secret order from the storm phantom, who, as -everybody knows, is called Adamastor. MM. Moncharmin and Richard were -the shipwrecked mariners amid this motionless turmoil of a calico sea. -They made for the left boxes, plowing their way like sailors who leave -their ship and try to struggle to the shore. The eight great polished -columns stood up in the dusk like so many huge piles supporting the -threatening, crumbling, big-bellied cliffs whose layers were -represented by the circular, parallel, waving lines of the balconies of -the grand, first and second tiers of boxes. At the top, right on top -of the cliff, lost in M. Lenepveu's copper ceiling, figures grinned and -grimaced, laughed and jeered at MM. Richard and Moncharmin's distress. -And yet these figures were usually very serious. Their names were -Isis, Amphitrite, Hebe, Pandora, Psyche, Thetis, Pomona, Daphne, -Clytie, Galatea and Arethusa. Yes, Arethusa herself and Pandora, whom -we all know by her box, looked down upon the two new managers of the -Opera, who ended by clutching at some piece of wreckage and from there -stared silently at Box Five on the grand tier. -</P> - -<P> -I have said that they were distressed. At least, I presume so. M. -Moncharmin, in any case, admits that he was impressed. To quote his -own words, in his Memoirs: -</P> - -<P> -"This moonshine about the Opera ghost in which, since we first took -over the duties of MM. Poligny and Debienne, we had been so nicely -steeped"—Moncharmin's style is not always irreproachable—"had no -doubt ended by blinding my imaginative and also my visual faculties. -It may be that the exceptional surroundings in which we found -ourselves, in the midst of an incredible silence, impressed us to an -unusual extent. It may be that we were the sport of a kind of -hallucination brought about by the semi-darkness of the theater and the -partial gloom that filled Box Five. At any rate, I saw and Richard -also saw a shape in the box. Richard said nothing, nor I either. But -we spontaneously seized each other's hand. We stood like that for some -minutes, without moving, with our eyes fixed on the same point; but the -figure had disappeared. Then we went out and, in the lobby, -communicated our impressions to each other and talked about 'the -shape.' The misfortune was that my shape was not in the least like -Richard's. I had seen a thing like a death's head resting on the ledge -of the box, whereas Richard saw the shape of an old woman who looked -like Mme. Giry. We soon discovered that we had really been the victims -of an illusion, whereupon, without further delay and laughing like -madmen, we ran to Box Five on the grand tier, went inside and found no -shape of any kind." -</P> - -<P> -Box Five is just like all the other grand tier boxes. There is nothing -to distinguish it from any of the others. M. Moncharmin and M. -Richard, ostensibly highly amused and laughing at each other, moved the -furniture of the box, lifted the cloths and the chairs and particularly -examined the arm-chair in which "the man's voice" used to sit. But -they saw that it was a respectable arm-chair, with no magic about it. -Altogether, the box was the most ordinary box in the world, with its -red hangings, its chairs, its carpet and its ledge covered in red -velvet. After, feeling the carpet in the most serious manner possible, -and discovering nothing more here or anywhere else, they went down to -the corresponding box on the pit tier below. In Box Five on the pit -tier, which is just inside the first exit from the stalls on the left, -they found nothing worth mentioning either. -</P> - -<P> -"Those people are all making fools of us!" Firmin Richard ended by -exclaiming. "It will be FAUST on Saturday: let us both see the -performance from Box Five on the grand tier!" -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap07"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter VII Faust and What Followed -</H3> - -<P> -On the Saturday morning, on reaching their office, the joint managers -found a letter from O. G. worded in these terms: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -MY DEAR MANAGERS: -</P> - -<P> -So it is to be war between us? -</P> - -<P> -If you still care for peace, here is my ultimatum. It consists of the -four following conditions: -</P> - -<P> -1. You must give me back my private box; and I wish it to be at my -free disposal from henceforward. -</P> - -<P> -2. The part of Margarita shall be sung this evening by Christine Daae. -Never mind about Carlotta; she will be ill. -</P> - -<P> -3. I absolutely insist upon the good and loyal services of Mme. Giry, -my box-keeper, whom you will reinstate in her functions forthwith. -</P> - -<P> -4. Let me know by a letter handed to Mme. Giry, who will see that it -reaches me, that you accept, as your predecessors did, the conditions -in my memorandum-book relating to my monthly allowance. I will inform -you later how you are to pay it to me. -</P> - -<P> -If you refuse, you will give FAUST to-night in a house with a curse -upon it. -</P> - -<P> -Take my advice and be warned in time. O. G. -</P> - -<P> -"Look here, I'm getting sick of him, sick of him!" shouted Richard, -bringing his fists down on his office-table. -</P> - -<P> -Just then, Mercier, the acting-manager, entered. -</P> - -<P> -"Lachenel would like to see one of you gentlemen," he said. "He says -that his business is urgent and he seems quite upset." -</P> - -<P> -"Who's Lachenel?" asked Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"He's your stud-groom." -</P> - -<P> -"What do you mean? My stud-groom?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, sir," explained Mercier, "there are several grooms at the Opera -and M. Lachenel is at the head of them." -</P> - -<P> -"And what does this groom do?" -</P> - -<P> -"He has the chief management of the stable." -</P> - -<P> -"What stable?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, yours, sir, the stable of the Opera." -</P> - -<P> -"Is there a stable at the Opera? Upon my word, I didn't know. Where -is it?" -</P> - -<P> -"In the cellars, on the Rotunda side. It's a very important -department; we have twelve horses." -</P> - -<P> -"Twelve horses! And what for, in Heaven's name?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, we want trained horses for the processions in the Juive, The -Profeta and so on; horses 'used to the boards.' It is the grooms' -business to teach them. M. Lachenel is very clever at it. He used to -manage Franconi's stables." -</P> - -<P> -"Very well ... but what does he want?" -</P> - -<P> -"I don't know; I never saw him in such a state." -</P> - -<P> -"He can come in." -</P> - -<P> -M. Lachenel came in, carrying a riding-whip, with which he struck his -right boot in an irritable manner. -</P> - -<P> -"Good morning, M. Lachenel," said Richard, somewhat impressed. "To -what do we owe the honor of your visit?" -</P> - -<P> -"Mr. Manager, I have come to ask you to get rid of the whole stable." -</P> - -<P> -"What, you want to get rid of our horses?" -</P> - -<P> -"I'm not talking of the horses, but of the stablemen." -</P> - -<P> -"How many stablemen have you, M. Lachenel?" -</P> - -<P> -"Six stablemen! That's at least two too many." -</P> - -<P> -"These are 'places,'" Mercier interposed, "created and forced upon us -by the under-secretary for fine arts. They are filled by protegees of -the government and, if I may venture to ..." -</P> - -<P> -"I don't care a hang for the government!" roared Richard. "We don't -need more than four stablemen for twelve horses." -</P> - -<P> -"Eleven," said the head riding-master, correcting him. -</P> - -<P> -"Twelve," repeated Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"Eleven," repeated Lachenel. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, the acting-manager told me that you had twelve horses!" -</P> - -<P> -"I did have twelve, but I have only eleven since Cesar was stolen." -</P> - -<P> -And M. Lachenel gave himself a great smack on the boot with his whip. -</P> - -<P> -"Has Cesar been stolen?" cried the acting-manager. "Cesar, the white -horse in the Profeta?" -</P> - -<P> -"There are not two Cesars," said the stud-groom dryly. "I was ten -years at Franconi's and I have seen plenty of horses in my time. Well, -there are not two Cesars. And he's been stolen." -</P> - -<P> -"How?" -</P> - -<P> -"I don't know. Nobody knows. That's why I have come to ask you to -sack the whole stable." -</P> - -<P> -"What do your stablemen say?" -</P> - -<P> -"All sorts of nonsense. Some of them accuse the supers. Others -pretend that it's the acting-manager's doorkeeper ..." -</P> - -<P> -"My doorkeeper? I'll answer for him as I would for myself!" protested -Mercier. -</P> - -<P> -"But, after all, M. Lachenel," cried Richard, "you must have some idea." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, I have," M. Lachenel declared. "I have an idea and I'll tell you -what it is. There's no doubt about it in my mind." He walked up to the -two managers and whispered. "It's the ghost who did the trick!" -</P> - -<P> -Richard gave a jump. -</P> - -<P> -"What, you too! You too!" -</P> - -<P> -"How do you mean, I too? Isn't it natural, after what I saw?" -</P> - -<P> -"What did you see?" -</P> - -<P> -"I saw, as clearly as I now see you, a black shadow riding a white -horse that was as like Cesar as two peas!" -</P> - -<P> -"And did you run after them?" -</P> - -<P> -"I did and I shouted, but they were too fast for me and disappeared in -the darkness of the underground gallery." -</P> - -<P> -M. Richard rose. "That will do, M. Lachenel. You can go ... We will -lodge a complaint against THE GHOST." -</P> - -<P> -"And sack my stable?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, of course! Good morning." -</P> - -<P> -M. Lachenel bowed and withdrew. Richard foamed at the mouth. -</P> - -<P> -"Settle that idiot's account at once, please." -</P> - -<P> -"He is a friend of the government representative's!" Mercier ventured -to say. -</P> - -<P> -"And he takes his vermouth at Tortoni's with Lagrene, Scholl and -Pertuiset, the lion-hunter," added Moncharmin. "We shall have the -whole press against us! He'll tell the story of the ghost; and -everybody will be laughing at our expense! We may as well be dead as -ridiculous!" -</P> - -<P> -"All right, say no more about it." -</P> - -<P> -At that moment the door opened. It must have been deserted by its -usual Cerberus, for Mme. Giry entered without ceremony, holding a -letter in her hand, and said hurriedly: -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon, excuse me, gentlemen, but I had a letter this -morning from the Opera ghost. He told me to come to you, that you had -something to ..." -</P> - -<P> -She did not complete the sentence. She saw Firmin Richard's face; and -it was a terrible sight. He seemed ready to burst. He said nothing, -he could not speak. But suddenly he acted. First, his left arm seized -upon the quaint person of Mme. Giry and made her describe so unexpected -a semicircle that she uttered a despairing cry. Next, his right foot -imprinted its sole on the black taffeta of a skirt which certainly had -never before undergone a similar outrage in a similar place. The thing -happened so quickly that Mme. Giry, when in the passage, was still -quite bewildered and seemed not to understand. But, suddenly, she -understood; and the Opera rang with her indignant yells, her violent -protests and threats. -</P> - -<P> -About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own in the -Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, rang for her maid, who brought her letters -to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, written in red ink, -in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran: -</P> - -<P> -If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune at -the moment when you open your mouth to sing ... a misfortune worse than -death. -</P> - -<P> -The letter took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. She pushed -back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. It was not the -first letter of the kind which she had received, but she never had one -couched in such threatening terms. -</P> - -<P> -She thought herself, at that time, the victim of a thousand jealous -attempts and went about saying that she had a secret enemy who had -sworn to ruin her. She pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched -against her, a cabal which would come to a head one of those days; but -she added that she was not the woman to be intimidated. -</P> - -<P> -The truth is that, if there was a cabal, it was led by Carlotta herself -against poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. Carlotta had never -forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had achieved when taking -her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta heard of the astounding -reception bestowed upon her understudy, she was at once cured of an -incipient attack of bronchitis and a bad fit of sulking against the -management and lost the slightest inclination to shirk her duties. -From that time, she worked with all her might to "smother" her rival, -enlisting the services of influential friends to persuade the managers -not to give Christine an opportunity for a fresh triumph. Certain -newspapers which had begun to extol the talent of Christine now -interested themselves only in the fame of Carlotta. Lastly, in the -theater itself, the celebrated, but heartless and soulless diva made -the most scandalous remarks about Christine and tried to cause her -endless minor unpleasantnesses. -</P> - -<P> -When Carlotta had finished thinking over the threat contained in the -strange letter, she got up. -</P> - -<P> -"We shall see," she said, adding a few oaths in her native Spanish with -a very determined air. -</P> - -<P> -The first thing she saw, when looking out of her window, was a hearse. -She was very superstitious; and the hearse and the letter convinced her -that she was running the most serious dangers that evening. She -collected all her supporters, told them that she was threatened at that -evening's performance with a plot organized by Christine Daae and -declared that they must play a trick upon that chit by filling the -house with her, Carlotta's, admirers. She had no lack of them, had -she? She relied upon them to hold themselves prepared for any -eventuality and to silence the adversaries, if, as she feared, they -created a disturbance. -</P> - -<P> -M. Richard's private secretary called to ask after the diva's health -and returned with the assurance that she was perfectly well and that, -"were she dying," she would sing the part of Margarita that evening. -The secretary urged her, in his chief's name, to commit no imprudence, -to stay at home all day and to be careful of drafts; and Carlotta could -not help, after he had gone, comparing this unusual and unexpected -advice with the threats contained in the letter. -</P> - -<P> -It was five o'clock when the post brought a second anonymous letter in -the same hand as the first. It was short and said simply: -</P> - -<P> -You have a bad cold. If you are wise, you will see that it is madness -to try to sing to-night. -</P> - -<P> -Carlotta sneered, shrugged her handsome shoulders and sang two or three -notes to reassure herself. -</P> - -<P> -Her friends were faithful to their promise. They were all at the Opera -that night, but looked round in vain for the fierce conspirators whom -they were instructed to suppress. The only unusual thing was the -presence of M. Richard and M. Moncharmin in Box Five. Carlotta's -friends thought that, perhaps, the managers had wind, on their side, of -the proposed disturbance and that they had determined to be in the -house, so as to stop it then and there; but this was unjustifiable -supposition, as the reader knows. M. Richard and M. Moncharmin were -thinking of nothing but their ghost. -</P> - -<P> -"Vain! In vain do I call, through my vigil weary, On creation and its -Lord! Never reply will break the silence dreary! No sign! No single -word!" -</P> - -<P> -The famous baritone, Carolus Fonta, had hardly finished Doctor Faust's -first appeal to the powers of darkness, when M. Firmin Richard, who was -sitting in the ghost's own chair, the front chair on the right, leaned -over to his partner and asked him chaffingly: -</P> - -<P> -"Well, has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet?" -</P> - -<P> -"Wait, don't be in such a hurry," replied M. Armand Moncharmin, in the -same gay tone. "The performance has only begun and you know that the -ghost does not usually come until the middle of the first act." -</P> - -<P> -The first act passed without incident, which did not surprise -Carlotta's friends, because Margarita does not sing in this act. As -for the managers, they looked at each other, when the curtain fell. -</P> - -<P> -"That's one!" said Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, the ghost is late," said Firmin Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"It's not a bad house," said Moncharmin, "for 'a house with a curse on -it.'" -</P> - -<P> -M. Richard smiled and pointed to a fat, rather vulgar woman, dressed in -black, sitting in a stall in the middle of the auditorium with a man in -a broadcloth frock-coat on either side of her. -</P> - -<P> -"Who on earth are 'those?'" asked Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"'Those,' my dear fellow, are my concierge, her husband and her -brother." -</P> - -<P> -"Did you give them their tickets?" -</P> - -<P> -"I did ... My concierge had never been to the Opera—this is, the first -time—and, as she is now going to come every night, I wanted her to -have a good seat, before spending her time showing other people to -theirs." -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin asked what he meant and Richard answered that he had -persuaded his concierge, in whom he had the greatest confidence, to -come and take Mme. Giry's place. Yes, he would like to see if, with -that woman instead of the old lunatic, Box Five would continue to -astonish the natives? -</P> - -<P> -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "you know that Mother Giry is going to -lodge a complaint against you." -</P> - -<P> -"With whom? The ghost?" -</P> - -<P> -The ghost! Moncharmin had almost forgotten him. However, that -mysterious person did nothing to bring himself to the memory of the -managers; and they were just saying so to each other for the second -time, when the door of the box suddenly opened to admit the startled -stage-manager. -</P> - -<P> -"What's the matter?" they both asked, amazed at seeing him there at -such a time. -</P> - -<P> -"It seems there's a plot got up by Christine Daae's friends against -Carlotta. Carlotta's furious." -</P> - -<P> -"What on earth ... ?" said Richard, knitting his brows. -</P> - -<P> -But the curtain rose on the kermess scene and Richard made a sign to -the stage-manager to go away. When the two were alone again, -Moncharmin leaned over to Richard: -</P> - -<P> -"Then Daae has friends?" he asked. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, she has." -</P> - -<P> -"Whom?" -</P> - -<P> -Richard glanced across at a box on the grand tier containing no one but -two men. -</P> - -<P> -"The Comte de Chagny?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, he spoke to me in her favor with such warmth that, if I had not -known him to be Sorelli's friend ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Really? Really?" said Moncharmin. "And who is that pale young man -beside him?" -</P> - -<P> -"That's his brother, the viscount." -</P> - -<P> -"He ought to be in his bed. He looks ill." -</P> - -<P> -The stage rang with gay song: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Red or white liquor,<BR> -Coarse or fine!<BR> -What can it matter,<BR> -So we have wine?"<BR> -</P> - -<P> -Students, citizens, soldiers, girls and matrons whirled light-heartedly -before the inn with the figure of Bacchus for a sign. Siebel made her -entrance. Christine Daae looked charming in her boy's clothes; and -Carlotta's partisans expected to hear her greeted with an ovation which -would have enlightened them as to the intentions of her friends. But -nothing happened. -</P> - -<P> -On the other hand, when Margarita crossed the stage and sang the only -two lines allotted her in this second act: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"No, my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty,<BR> -And do not need an arm to help me on my way,"<BR> -</P> - -<P> -Carlotta was received with enthusiastic applause. It was so unexpected -and so uncalled for that those who knew nothing about the rumors looked -at one another and asked what was happening. And this act also was -finished without incident. -</P> - -<P> -Then everybody said: "Of course, it will be during the next act." -</P> - -<P> -Some, who seemed to be better informed than the rest, declared that the -"row" would begin with the ballad of the KING OF THULE and rushed to -the subscribers' entrance to warn Carlotta. The managers left the box -during the entr'acte to find out more about the cabal of which the -stage-manager had spoken; but they soon returned to their seats, -shrugging their shoulders and treating the whole affair as silly. -</P> - -<P> -The first thing they saw, on entering the box, was a box of English -sweets on the little shelf of the ledge. Who had put it there? They -asked the box-keepers, but none of them knew. Then they went back to -the shelf and, next to the box of sweets, found an opera glass. They -looked at each other. They had no inclination to laugh. All that Mme. -Giry had told them returned to their memory ... and then ... and then -... they seemed to feel a curious sort of draft around them ... They -sat down in silence. -</P> - -<P> -The scene represented Margarita's garden: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Gentle flow'rs in the dew,<BR> - Be message from me ..."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -As she sang these first two lines, with her bunch of roses and lilacs -in her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de Chagny in -his box; and, from that moment, her voice seemed less sure, less -crystal-clear than usual. Something seemed to deaden and dull her -singing... -</P> - -<P> -"What a queer girl she is!" said one of Carlotta's friends in the -stalls, almost aloud. "The other day she was divine; and to-night -she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training." -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Gentle flow'rs, lie ye there<BR> - And tell her from me ..."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -The viscount put his head under his hands and wept. The count, behind -him, viciously gnawed his mustache, shrugged his shoulders and frowned. -For him, usually so cold and correct, to betray his inner feelings like -that, by outward signs, the count must be very angry. He was. He had -seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey in an -alarming state of health. The explanation that followed was -unsatisfactory and the count asked Christine Daae for an appointment. -She had the audacity to reply that she could not see either him or his -brother... -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Would she but deign to hear me<BR> -And with one smile to cheer me ..."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -"The little baggage!" growled the count. -</P> - -<P> -And he wondered what she wanted. What she was hoping for... She was a -virtuous girl, she was said to have no friend, no protector of any sort -... That angel from the North must be very artful! -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, -thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris, -where Christine, fleeing from Perros like a thief in the night, had -arrived before him: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -MY DEAR LITTLE PLAYFELLOW: -</P> - -<P> -You must have the courage not to see me again, not to speak of me -again. If you love me just a little, do this for me, for me who will -never forget you, my dear Raoul. My life depends upon it. Your life -depends upon it. YOUR LITTLE CHRISTINE. -</P> - -<P> -Thunders of applause. Carlotta made her entrance. -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"I wish I could but know who was he<BR> -That addressed me,<BR> -If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is ..."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -When Margarita had finished singing the ballad of the KING OF THULE, -she was loudly cheered and again when she came to the end of the jewel -song: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Ah, the joy of past compare<BR> -These jewels bright to wear! ..."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, -certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung -herself into her part without restraint of modesty ... She was no -longer Margarita, she was Carmen. She was applauded all the more; and -her debut with Faust seemed about to bring her a new success, when -suddenly ... a terrible thing happened. -</P> - -<P> -Faust had knelt on one knee: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Let me gaze on the form below me,<BR> - While from yonder ether blue<BR> -Look how the star of eve, bright and tender,<BR> - lingers o'er me,<BR> - To love thy beauty too!"<BR> -</P> - -<P> -And Margarita replied: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"Oh, how strange!<BR> - Like a spell does the evening bind me!<BR> -And a deep languid charm<BR> -I feel without alarm<BR> - With its melody enwind me<BR> -And all my heart subdue."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -At that moment, at that identical moment, the terrible thing -happened... Carlotta croaked like a toad: -</P> - -<P> -"Co-ack!" -</P> - -<P> -There was consternation on Carlotta's face and consternation on the -faces of all the audience. The two managers in their box could not -suppress an exclamation of horror. Every one felt that the thing was -not natural, that there was witchcraft behind it. That toad smelt of -brimstone. Poor, wretched, despairing, crushed Carlotta! -</P> - -<P> -The uproar in the house was indescribable. If the thing had happened -to any one but Carlotta, she would have been hooted. But everybody -knew how perfect an instrument her voice was; and there was no display -of anger, but only of horror and dismay, the sort of dismay which men -would have felt if they had witnessed the catastrophe that broke the -arms of the Venus de Milo... And even then they would have seen ... -and understood ... -</P> - -<P> -But here that toad was incomprehensible! So much so that, after some -seconds spent in asking herself if she had really heard that note, that -sound, that infernal noise issue from her throat, she tried to persuade -herself that it was not so, that she was the victim of an illusion, an -illusion of the ear, and not of an act of treachery on the part of her -voice.... -</P> - -<P> -Meanwhile, in Box Five, Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. -This extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread -which was the more mysterious inasmuch as for some little while, they -had fallen within the direct influence of the ghost. They had felt his -breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end. Richard wiped the -perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost was there, around them, -behind them, beside them; they felt his presence without seeing him, -they heard his breath, close, close, close to them! ... They were sure -that there were three people in the box ... They trembled ... They -thought of running away ... They dared not ... They dared not make a -movement or exchange a word that would have told the ghost that they -knew that he was there! ... What was going to happen? -</P> - -<P> -This happened. -</P> - -<P> -"Co-ack!" Their joint exclamation of horror was heard all over the -house. THEY FELT THAT THEY WERE SMARTING UNDER THE GHOST'S ATTACKS. -Leaning over the ledge of their box, they stared at Carlotta as though -they did not recognize her. That infernal girl must have given the -signal for some catastrophe. Ah, they were waiting for the -catastrophe! The ghost had told them it would come! The house had a -curse upon it! The two managers gasped and panted under the weight of -the catastrophe. Richard's stifled voice was heard calling to Carlotta: -</P> - -<P> -"Well, go on!" -</P> - -<P> -No, Carlotta did not go on ... Bravely, heroically, she started afresh -on the fatal line at the end of which the toad had appeared. -</P> - -<P> -An awful silence succeeded the uproar. Carlotta's voice alone once -more filled the resounding house: -</P> - -<P> -"I feel without alarm ..." -</P> - -<P> -The audience also felt, but not without alarm. .. -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"I feel without alarm ...<BR> -I feel without alarm—co-ack!<BR> -With its melody enwind me—co-ack!<BR> -And all my heart sub—co-ack!"<BR> -</P> - -<P> -The toad also had started afresh! -</P> - -<P> -The house broke into a wild tumult. The two managers collapsed in -their chairs and dared not even turn round; they had not the strength; -the ghost was chuckling behind their backs! And, at last, they -distinctly heard his voice in their right ears, the impossible voice, -the mouthless voice, saying: -</P> - -<P> -"SHE IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!" -</P> - -<P> -With one accord, they raised their eyes to the ceiling and uttered a -terrible cry. The chandelier, the immense mass of the chandelier was -slipping down, coming toward them, at the call of that fiendish voice. -Released from its hook, it plunged from the ceiling and came smashing -into the middle of the stalls, amid a thousand shouts of terror. A -wild rush for the doors followed. -</P> - -<P> -The papers of the day state that there were numbers wounded and one -killed. The chandelier had crashed down upon the head of the wretched -woman who had come to the Opera for the first time in her life, the one -whom M. Richard had appointed to succeed Mme. Giry, the ghost's -box-keeper, in her functions! She died on the spot and, the next -morning, a newspaper appeared with this heading: -</P> - -<P> -TWO HUNDRED KILOS ON THE HEAD OF A CONCIERGE -</P> - -<P> -That was her sole epitaph! -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap08"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter VIII The Mysterious Brougham -</H3> - -<P> -That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill. As for -Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. A fortnight -elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera nor outside. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima donna's -absence. He wrote to her at Mme. Valerius' flat and received no reply. -His grief increased and he ended by being seriously alarmed at never -seeing her name on the program. FAUST was played without her. -</P> - -<P> -One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason of -Christine's disappearance. He found them both looking extremely -worried. Their own friends did not recognize them: they had lost all -their gaiety and spirits. They were seen crossing the stage with -hanging heads, care-worn brows, pale cheeks, as though pursued by some -abominable thought or a prey to some persistent sport of fate. -</P> - -<P> -The fall of the chandelier had involved them in no little -responsibility; but it was difficult to make them speak about it. The -inquest had ended in a verdict of accidental death, caused by the wear -and tear of the chains by which the chandelier was hung from the -ceiling; but it was the duty of both the old and the new managers to -have discovered this wear and tear and to have remedied it in time. -And I feel bound to say that MM. Richard and Moncharmin at this time -appeared so changed, so absent-minded, so mysterious, so -incomprehensible that many of the subscribers thought that some event -even more horrible than the fall of the chandelier must have affected -their state of mind. -</P> - -<P> -In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, -except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions. And -their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask about -Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him that she was -taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, and they -replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, as Mlle. Daae had -requested leave of absence for reasons of health. -</P> - -<P> -"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?" -</P> - -<P> -"We don't know." -</P> - -<P> -"Didn't you send the doctor of the Opera to see her?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, she did not ask for him; and, as we trust her, we took her word." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul left the building a prey to the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved, -come what might, to go and inquire of Mamma Valerius. He remembered -the strong phrases in Christine's letter, forbidding him to make any -attempt to see her. But what he had seen at Perros, what he had heard -behind the dressing-room door, his conversation with Christine at the -edge of the moor made him suspect some machination which, devilish -though it might be, was none the less human. The girl's highly strung -imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, the primitive -education which had surrounded her childhood with a circle of legends, -the constant brooding over her dead father and, above all, the state of -sublime ecstasy into which music threw her from the moment that this -art was made manifest to her in certain exceptional conditions, as in -the churchyard at Perros; all this seemed to him to constitute a moral -ground only too favorable for the malevolent designs of some mysterious -and unscrupulous person. Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? This -was the very reasonable question which Raoul put to himself as he -hurried off to Mamma Valerius. -</P> - -<P> -He trembled as he rang at a little flat in the Rue -Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. The door was opened by the maid whom he had -seen coming out of Christine's dressing-room one evening. He asked if -he could speak to Mme. Valerius. He was told that she was ill in bed -and was not receiving visitors. -</P> - -<P> -"Take in my card, please," he said. -</P> - -<P> -The maid soon returned and showed him into a small and scantily -furnished drawing-room, in which portraits of Professor Valerius and -old Daae hung on opposite walls. -</P> - -<P> -"Madame begs Monsieur le Vicomte to excuse her," said the servant. -"She can only see him in her bedroom, because she can no longer stand -on her poor legs." -</P> - -<P> -Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he at -once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress in the -semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now quite white, -but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, had their -expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like. -</P> - -<P> -"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her -visitor. "Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here! ... We can talk of HER." -</P> - -<P> -This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears. He -at once asked: -</P> - -<P> -"Madame ... where is Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -And the old lady replied calmly: -</P> - -<P> -"She is with her good genius!" -</P> - -<P> -"What good genius?" exclaimed poor Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"Why, the Angel of Music!" -</P> - -<P> -The viscount dropped into a chair. Really? Christine was with the -Angel of Music? And there lay Mamma Valerius in bed, smiling to him -and putting her finger to her lips, to warn him to be silent! And she -added: -</P> - -<P> -"You must not tell anybody!" -</P> - -<P> -"You can rely on me," said Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -He hardly knew what he was saying, for his ideas about Christine, -already greatly confused, were becoming more and more entangled; and it -seemed as if everything was beginning to turn around him, around the -room, around that extraordinary good lady with the white hair and -forget-me-not eyes. -</P> - -<P> -"I know! I know I can!" she said, with a happy laugh. "But why don't -you come near me, as you used to do when you were a little boy? Give -me your hands, as when you brought me the story of little Lotte, which -Daddy Daae had told you. I am very fond of you, M. Raoul, you know. -And so is Christine too!" -</P> - -<P> -"She is fond of me!" sighed the young man. He found a difficulty in -collecting his thoughts and bringing them to bear on Mamma Valerius' -"good genius," on the Angel of Music of whom Christine had spoken to -him so strangely, on the death's head which he had seen in a sort of -nightmare on the high altar at Perros and also on the Opera ghost, -whose fame had come to his ears one evening when he was standing behind -the scenes, within hearing of a group of scene-shifters who were -repeating the ghastly description which the hanged man, Joseph Buquet, -had given of the ghost before his mysterious death. -</P> - -<P> -He asked in a low voice: "What makes you think that Christine is fond -of me, madame?" -</P> - -<P> -"She used to speak of you every day." -</P> - -<P> -"Really? ... And what did she tell you?" -</P> - -<P> -"She told me that you had made her a proposal!" -</P> - -<P> -And the good old lady began laughing wholeheartedly. Raoul sprang from -his chair, flushing to the temples, suffering agonies. -</P> - -<P> -"What's this? Where are you going? Sit down again at once, will you? -... Do you think I will let you go like that? ... If you're angry with -me for laughing, I beg your pardon... After all, what has happened -isn't your fault... Didn't you know? ... Did you think that Christine -was free? ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Is Christine engaged to be married?" the wretched Raoul asked, in a -choking voice. -</P> - -<P> -"Why no! Why no! ... You know as well as I do that Christine couldn't -marry, even if she wanted to!" -</P> - -<P> -"But I don't know anything about it! ... And why can't Christine marry?" -</P> - -<P> -"Because of the Angel of Music, of course! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"I don't follow ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, he forbids her to! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"He forbids her! ... The Angel of Music forbids her to marry!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, he forbids her ... without forbidding her. It's like this: he -tells her that, if she got married, she would never hear him again. -That's all! ... And that he would go away for ever! ... So, you -understand, she can't let the Angel of Music go. It's quite natural." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, yes," echoed Raoul submissively, "it's quite natural." -</P> - -<P> -"Besides, I thought Christine had told you all that, when she met you -at Perros, where she went with her good genius." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, she went to Perros with her good genius, did she?" -</P> - -<P> -"That is to say, he arranged to meet her down there, in Perros -churchyard, at Daae's grave. He promised to play her The Resurrection -of Lazarus on her father's violin!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul de Chagny rose and, with a very authoritative air, pronounced -these peremptory words: -</P> - -<P> -"Madame, you will have the goodness to tell me where that genius lives." -</P> - -<P> -The old lady did not seem surprised at this indiscreet command. She -raised her eyes and said: -</P> - -<P> -"In Heaven!" -</P> - -<P> -Such simplicity baffled him. He did not know what to say in the -presence of this candid and perfect faith in a genius who came down -nightly from Heaven to haunt the dressing-rooms at the Opera. -</P> - -<P> -He now realized the possible state of mind of a girl brought up between -a superstitious fiddler and a visionary old lady and he shuddered when -he thought of the consequences of it all. -</P> - -<P> -"Is Christine still a good girl?" he asked suddenly, in spite of -himself. -</P> - -<P> -"I swear it, as I hope to be saved!" exclaimed the old woman, who, this -time, seemed to be incensed. "And, if you doubt it, sir, I don't know -what you are here for!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul tore at his gloves. -</P> - -<P> -"How long has she known this 'genius?'" -</P> - -<P> -"About three months ... Yes, it's quite three months since he began to -give her lessons." -</P> - -<P> -The viscount threw up his arms with a gesture of despair. -</P> - -<P> -"The genius gives her lessons! ... And where, pray?" -</P> - -<P> -"Now that she has gone away with him, I can't say; but, up to a -fortnight ago, it was in Christine's dressing-room. It would be -impossible in this little flat. The whole house would hear them. -Whereas, at the Opera, at eight o'clock in the morning, there is no one -about, do you see!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, I see! I see!" cried the viscount. -</P> - -<P> -And he hurriedly took leave of Mme. Valerius, who asked herself if the -young nobleman was not a little off his head. -</P> - -<P> -He walked home to his brother's house in a pitiful state. He could -have struck himself, banged his head against the walls! To think that -he had believed in her innocence, in her purity! The Angel of Music! -He knew him now! He saw him! It was beyond a doubt some unspeakable -tenor, a good-looking jackanapes, who mouthed and simpered as he sang! -He thought himself as absurd and as wretched as could be. Oh, what a -miserable, little, insignificant, silly young man was M. le Vicomte de -Chagny! thought Raoul, furiously. And she, what a bold and damnable -sly creature! -</P> - -<P> -His brother was waiting for him and Raoul fell into his arms, like a -child. The count consoled him, without asking for explanations; and -Raoul would certainly have long hesitated before telling him the story -of the Angel of Music. His brother suggested taking him out to dinner. -Overcome as he was with despair, Raoul would probably have refused any -invitation that evening, if the count had not, as an inducement, told -him that the lady of his thoughts had been seen, the night before, in -company of the other sex in the Bois. At first, the viscount refused -to believe; but he received such exact details that he ceased -protesting. She had been seen, it appeared, driving in a brougham, -with the window down. She seemed to be slowly taking in the icy night -air. There was a glorious moon shining. She was recognized beyond a -doubt. As for her companion, only his shadowy outline was -distinguished leaning back in the dark. The carriage was going at a -walking pace in a lonely drive behind the grand stand at Longchamp. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul dressed in frantic haste, prepared to forget his distress by -flinging himself, as people say, into "the vortex of pleasure." Alas, -he was a very sorry guest and, leaving his brother early, found -himself, by ten o'clock in the evening, in a cab, behind the Longchamp -race-course. -</P> - -<P> -It was bitterly cold. The road seemed deserted and very bright under -the moonlight. He told the driver to wait for him patiently at the -corner of a near turning and, hiding himself as well as he could, stood -stamping his feet to keep warm. He had been indulging in this healthy -exercise for half an hour or so, when a carriage turned the corner of -the road and came quietly in his direction, at a walking pace. -</P> - -<P> -As it approached, he saw that a woman was leaning her head from the -window. And, suddenly, the moon shed a pale gleam over her features. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -The sacred name of his love had sprung from his heart and his lips. He -could not keep it back... He would have given anything to withdraw it, -for that name, proclaimed in the stillness of the night, had acted as -though it were the preconcerted signal for a furious rush on the part -of the whole turn-out, which dashed past him before he could put into -execution his plan of leaping at the horses' heads. The carriage -window had been closed and the girl's face had disappeared. And the -brougham, behind which he was now running, was no more than a black -spot on the white road. -</P> - -<P> -He called out again: "Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -No reply. And he stopped in the midst of the silence. -</P> - -<P> -With a lack-luster eye, he stared down that cold, desolate road and -into the pale, dead night. Nothing was colder than his heart, nothing -half so dead: he had loved an angel and now he despised a woman! -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, how that little fairy of the North has trifled with you! Was it -really, was it really necessary to have so fresh and young a face, a -forehead so shy and always ready to cover itself with the pink blush of -modesty in order to pass in the lonely night, in a carriage and pair, -accompanied by a mysterious lover? Surely there should be some limit -to hypocrisy and lying! ... -</P> - -<P> -She had passed without answering his cry ... And he was thinking of -dying; and he was twenty years old! ... -</P> - -<P> -His valet found him in the morning sitting on his bed. He had not -undressed and the servant feared, at the sight of his face, that some -disaster had occurred. Raoul snatched his letters from the man's -hands. He had recognized Christine's paper and hand-writing. She said: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -DEAR: -</P> - -<P> -Go to the masked ball at the Opera on the night after to-morrow. At -twelve o'clock, be in the little room behind the chimney-place of the -big crush-room. Stand near the door that leads to the Rotunda. Don't -mention this appointment to any one on earth. Wear a white domino and -be carefully masked. As you love me, do not let yourself be -recognized. CHRISTINE. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap09"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter IX At the Masked Ball -</H3> - -<P> -The envelope was covered with mud and unstamped. It bore the words "To -be handed to M. le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny," with the address in -pencil. It must have been flung out in the hope that a passer-by would -pick up the note and deliver it, which was what happened. The note had -been picked up on the pavement of the Place de l'Opera. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul read it over again with fevered eyes. No more was needed to -revive his hope. The somber picture which he had for a moment imagined -of a Christine forgetting her duty to herself made way for his original -conception of an unfortunate, innocent child, the victim of imprudence -and exaggerated sensibility. To what extent, at this time, was she -really a victim? Whose prisoner was she? Into what whirlpool had she -been dragged? He asked himself these questions with a cruel anguish; -but even this pain seemed endurable beside the frenzy into which he was -thrown at the thought of a lying and deceitful Christine. What had -happened? What influence had she undergone? What monster had carried -her off and by what means? ... -</P> - -<P> -By what means indeed but that of music? He knew Christine's story. -After her father's death, she acquired a distaste of everything in -life, including her art. She went through the CONSERVATOIRE like a -poor soulless singing-machine. And, suddenly, she awoke as though -through the intervention of a god. The Angel of Music appeared upon -the scene! She sang Margarita in FAUST and triumphed! ... -</P> - -<P> -The Angel of Music! ... For three months the Angel of Music had been -giving Christine lessons ... Ah, he was a punctual singing-master! ... -And now he was taking her for drives in the Bois! ... -</P> - -<P> -Raoul's fingers clutched at his flesh, above his jealous heart. In his -inexperience, he now asked himself with terror what game the girl was -playing? Up to what point could an opera-singer make a fool of a -good-natured young man, quite new to love? O misery! ... -</P> - -<P> -Thus did Raoul's thoughts fly from one extreme to the other. He no -longer knew whether to pity Christine or to curse her; and he pitied -and cursed her turn and turn about. At all events, he bought a white -domino. -</P> - -<P> -The hour of the appointment came at last. With his face in a mask -trimmed with long, thick lace, looking like a pierrot in his white -wrap, the viscount thought himself very ridiculous. Men of the world -do not go to the Opera ball in fancy-dress! It was absurd. One -thought, however, consoled the viscount: he would certainly never be -recognized! -</P> - -<P> -This ball was an exceptional affair, given some time before Shrovetide, -in honor of the anniversary of the birth of a famous draftsman; and it -was expected to be much gayer, noisier, more Bohemian than the ordinary -masked ball. Numbers of artists had arranged to go, accompanied by a -whole cohort of models and pupils, who, by midnight, began to create a -tremendous din. Raoul climbed the grand staircase at five minutes to -twelve, did not linger to look at the motley dresses displayed all the -way up the marble steps, one of the richest settings in the world, -allowed no facetious mask to draw him into a war of wits, replied to no -jests and shook off the bold familiarity of a number of couples who had -already become a trifle too gay. Crossing the big crush-room and -escaping from a mad whirl of dancers in which he was caught for a -moment, he at last entered the room mentioned in Christine's letter. -He found it crammed; for this small space was the point where all those -who were going to supper in the Rotunda crossed those who were -returning from taking a glass of champagne. The fun, here, waxed fast -and furious. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul leaned against a door-post and waited. He did not wait long. A -black domino passed and gave a quick squeeze to the tips of his -fingers. He understood that it was she and followed her: -</P> - -<P> -"Is that you, Christine?" he asked, between his teeth. -</P> - -<P> -The black domino turned round promptly and raised her finger to her -lips, no doubt to warn him not to mention her name again. Raoul -continued to follow her in silence. -</P> - -<P> -He was afraid of losing her, after meeting her again in such strange -circumstances. His grudge against her was gone. He no longer doubted -that she had "nothing to reproach herself with," however peculiar and -inexplicable her conduct might seem. He was ready to make any display -of clemency, forgiveness or cowardice. He was in love. And, no doubt, -he would soon receive a very natural explanation of her curious absence. -</P> - -<P> -The black domino turned back from time to time to see if the white -domino was still following. -</P> - -<P> -As Raoul once more passed through the great crush-room, this time in -the wake of his guide, he could not help noticing a group crowding -round a person whose disguise, eccentric air and gruesome appearance -were causing a sensation. It was a man dressed all in scarlet, with a -huge hat and feathers on the top of a wonderful death's head. From his -shoulders hung an immense red-velvet cloak, which trailed along the -floor like a king's train; and on this cloak was embroidered, in gold -letters, which every one read and repeated aloud, "Don't touch me! I -am Red Death stalking abroad!" -</P> - -<P> -Then one, greatly daring, did try to touch him ... but a skeleton hand -shot out of a crimson sleeve and violently seized the rash one's wrist; -and he, feeling the clutch of the knucklebones, the furious grasp of -Death, uttered a cry of pain and terror. When Red Death released him -at last, he ran away like a very madman, pursued by the jeers of the -bystanders. -</P> - -<P> -It was at this moment that Raoul passed in front of the funereal -masquerader, who had just happened to turn in his direction. And he -nearly exclaimed: -</P> - -<P> -"The death's head of Perros-Guirec!" -</P> - -<P> -He had recognized him! ... He wanted to dart forward, forgetting -Christine; but the black domino, who also seemed a prey to some strange -excitement, caught him by the arm and dragged him from the crush-room, -far from the mad crowd through which Red Death was stalking... -</P> - -<P> -The black domino kept on turning back and, apparently, on two occasions -saw something that startled her, for she hurried her pace and Raoul's -as though they were being pursued. -</P> - -<P> -They went up two floors. Here, the stairs and corridors were almost -deserted. The black domino opened the door of a private box and -beckoned to the white domino to follow her. Then Christine, whom he -recognized by the sound of her voice, closed the door behind them and -warned him, in a whisper, to remain at the back of the box and on no -account to show himself. Raoul took off his mask. Christine kept hers -on. And, when Raoul was about to ask her to remove it, he was -surprised to see her put her ear to the partition and listen eagerly -for a sound outside. Then she opened the door ajar, looked out into -the corridor and, in a low voice, said: -</P> - -<P> -"He must have gone up higher." Suddenly she exclaimed: "He is coming -down again!" -</P> - -<P> -She tried to close the door, but Raoul prevented her; for he had seen, -on the top step of the staircase that led to the floor above, A RED -FOOT, followed by another ... and slowly, majestically, the whole -scarlet dress of Red Death met his eyes. And he once more saw the -death's head of Perros-Guirec. -</P> - -<P> -"It's he!" he exclaimed. "This time, he shall not escape me! ..." -</P> - -<P> -But Christian{sic} had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul was on -the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside. -</P> - -<P> -"Whom do you mean by 'he'?" she asked, in a changed voice. "Who shall -not escape you?" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul tried to overcome the girl's resistance by force, but she -repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her. -He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper. -</P> - -<P> -"Who?" he repeated angrily. "Why, he, the man who hides behind that -hideous mask of death! ... The evil genius of the churchyard at Perros! -... Red Death! ... In a word, madam, your friend ... your Angel of -Music! ... But I shall snatch off his mask, as I shall snatch off my -own; and, this time, we shall look each other in the face, he and I, -with no veil and no lies between us; and I shall know whom you love and -who loves you!" -</P> - -<P> -He burst into a mad laugh, while Christine gave a disconsolate moan -behind her velvet mask. With a tragic gesture, she flung out her two -arms, which fixed a barrier of white flesh against the door. -</P> - -<P> -"In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass! ..." -</P> - -<P> -He stopped. What had she said? ... In the name of their love? ... -Never before had she confessed that she loved him. And yet she had had -opportunities enough ... Pooh, her only object was to gain a few -seconds! ... She wished to give the Red Death time to escape ... And, -in accents of childish hatred, he said: -</P> - -<P> -"You lie, madam, for you do not love me and you have never loved me! -What a poor fellow I must be to let you mock and flout me as you have -done! Why did you give me every reason for hope, at Perros ... for -honest hope, madam, for I am an honest man and I believed you to be an -honest woman, when your only intention was to deceive me! Alas, you -have deceived us all! You have taken a shameful advantage of the -candid affection of your benefactress herself, who continues to believe -in your sincerity while you go about the Opera ball with Red Death! ... -I despise you! ..." -</P> - -<P> -And he burst into tears. She allowed him to insult her. She thought -of but one thing, to keep him from leaving the box. -</P> - -<P> -"You will beg my pardon, one day, for all those ugly words, Raoul, and -when you do I shall forgive you!" -</P> - -<P> -He shook his head. "No, no, you have driven me mad! When I think that -I had only one object in life: to give my name to an opera wench!" -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul! ... How can you?" -</P> - -<P> -"I shall die of shame!" -</P> - -<P> -"No, dear, live!" said Christine's grave and changed voice. "And ... -good-by. Good-by, Raoul ..." -</P> - -<P> -The boy stepped forward, staggering as he went. He risked one more -sarcasm: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, you must let me come and applaud you from time to time!" -</P> - -<P> -"I shall never sing again, Raoul! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Really?" he replied, still more satirically. "So he is taking you off -the stage: I congratulate you! ... But we shall meet in the Bois, one -of these evenings!" -</P> - -<P> -"Not in the Bois nor anywhere, Raoul: you shall not see me again ..." -</P> - -<P> -"May one ask at least to what darkness you are returning? ... For what -hell are you leaving, mysterious lady ... or for what paradise?" -</P> - -<P> -"I came to tell you, dear, but I can't tell you now ... you would not -believe me! You have lost faith in me, Raoul; it is finished!" -</P> - -<P> -She spoke in such a despairing voice that the lad began to feel remorse -for his cruelty. -</P> - -<P> -"But look here!" he cried. "Can't you tell me what all this means! -... You are free, there is no one to interfere with you... You go -about Paris ... You put on a domino to come to the ball... Why do you -not go home? ... What have you been doing this past fortnight? ... What -is this tale about the Angel of Music, which you have been telling -Mamma Valerius? Some one may have taken you in, played upon your -innocence. I was a witness of it myself, at Perros ... but you know -what to believe now! You seem to me quite sensible, Christine. You -know what you are doing ... And meanwhile Mamma Valerius lies waiting -for you at home and appealing to your 'good genius!' ... Explain -yourself, Christine, I beg of you! Any one might have been deceived as -I was. What is this farce?" -</P> - -<P> -Christine simply took off her mask and said: "Dear, it is a tragedy!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul now saw her face and could not restrain an exclamation of -surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. A -mortal pallor covered those features, which he had known so charming -and so gentle, and sorrow had furrowed them with pitiless lines and -traced dark and unspeakably sad shadows under her eyes. -</P> - -<P> -"My dearest! My dearest!" he moaned, holding out his arms. "You -promised to forgive me ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps! ... Some day, perhaps!" she said, resuming her mask; and she -went away, forbidding him, with a gesture, to follow her. -</P> - -<P> -He tried to disobey her; but she turned round and repeated her gesture -of farewell with such authority that he dared not move a step. -</P> - -<P> -He watched her till she was out of sight. Then he also went down among -the crowd, hardly knowing what he was doing, with throbbing temples and -an aching heart; and, as he crossed the dancing-floor, he asked if -anybody had seen Red Death. Yes, every one had seen Red Death; but -Raoul could not find him; and, at two o'clock in the morning, he turned -down the passage, behind the scenes, that led to Christine Daae's -dressing-room. -</P> - -<P> -His footsteps took him to that room where he had first known suffering. -He tapped at the door. There was no answer. He entered, as he had -entered when he looked everywhere for "the man's voice." The room was -empty. A gas-jet was burning, turned down low. He saw some -writing-paper on a little desk. He thought of writing to Christine, -but he heard steps in the passage. He had only time to hide in the -inner room, which was separated from the dressing-room by a curtain. -</P> - -<P> -Christine entered, took off her mask with a weary movement and flung it -on the table. She sighed and let her pretty head fall into her two -hands. What was she thinking of? Of Raoul? No, for Raoul heard her -murmur: "Poor Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was -persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. It -would have been quite natural if she had said, "Poor Raoul," after what -had happened between them. But, shaking her head, she repeated: "Poor -Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she pitying -Erik when Raoul was so unhappy? -</P> - -<P> -Christine began to write, deliberately, calmly and so placidly that -Raoul, who was still trembling from the effects of the tragedy that -separated them, was painfully impressed. -</P> - -<P> -"What coolness!" he said to himself. -</P> - -<P> -She wrote on, filling two, three, four sheets. Suddenly, she raised -her head and hid the sheets in her bodice ... She seemed to be -listening ... Raoul also listened ... Whence came that strange sound, -that distant rhythm? ... A faint singing seemed to issue from the walls -... yes, it was as though the walls themselves were singing! ... The -song became plainer ... the words were now distinguishable ... he heard -a voice, a very beautiful, very soft, very captivating voice ... but, -for all its softness, it remained a male voice ... The voice came -nearer and nearer ... it came through the wall ... it approached ... -and now the voice was IN THE ROOM, in front of Christine. Christine -rose and addressed the voice, as though speaking to some one: -</P> - -<P> -"Here I am, Erik," she said. "I am ready. But you are late." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, peeping from behind the curtain, could not believe his eyes, -which showed him nothing. Christine's face lit up. A smile of -happiness appeared upon her bloodless lips, a smile like that of sick -people when they receive the first hope of recovery. -</P> - -<P> -The voice without a body went on singing; and certainly Raoul had never -in his life heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet, more -gloriously insidious, more delicate, more powerful, in short, more -irresistibly triumphant. He listened to it in a fever and he now began -to understand how Christine Daae was able to appear one evening, before -the stupefied audience, with accents of a beauty hitherto unknown, of a -superhuman exaltation, while doubtless still under the influence of the -mysterious and invisible master. -</P> - -<P> -The voice was singing the Wedding-night Song from Romeo and Juliet. -Raoul saw Christine stretch out her arms to the voice as she had done, -in Perros churchyard, to the invisible violin playing The Resurrection -of Lazarus. And nothing could describe the passion with which the -voice sang: -</P> - -<P> -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" -</P> - -<P> -The strains went through Raoul's heart. Struggling against the charm -that seemed to deprive him of all his will and all his energy and of -almost all his lucidity at the moment when he needed them most, he -succeeded in drawing back the curtain that hid him and he walked to -where Christine stood. She herself was moving to the back of the room, -the whole wall of which was occupied by a great mirror that reflected -her image, but not his, for he was just behind her and entirely covered -by her. -</P> - -<P> -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" -</P> - -<P> -Christine walked toward her image in the glass and the image came -toward her. The two Christines—the real one and the reflection—ended -by touching; and Raoul put out his arms to clasp the two in one -embrace. But, by a sort of dazzling miracle that sent him staggering, -Raoul was suddenly flung back, while an icy blast swept over his face; -he saw, not two, but four, eight, twenty Christines spinning round him, -laughing at him and fleeing so swiftly that he could not touch one of -them. At last, everything stood still again; and he saw himself in the -glass. But Christine had disappeared. -</P> - -<P> -He rushed up to the glass. He struck at the walls. Nobody! And -meanwhile the room still echoed with a distant passionate singing: -</P> - -<P> -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" -</P> - -<P> -Which way, which way had Christine gone? ... Which way would she -return? ... -</P> - -<P> -Would she return? Alas, had she not declared to him that everything -was finished? And was the voice not repeating: -</P> - -<P> -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" -</P> - -<P> -To me? To whom? -</P> - -<P> -Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair which -Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into his -hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his young -cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, tears -that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which is -common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud: -</P> - -<P> -"Who is this Erik?" he said. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap10"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter X Forget the Name of the Man's Voice -</H3> - -<P> -The day after Christine had vanished before his eyes in a sort of -dazzlement that still made him doubt the evidence of his senses, M. le -Vicomte de Chagny called to inquire at Mamma Valerius'. He came upon a -charming picture. Christine herself was seated by the bedside of the -old lady, who was sitting up against the pillows, knitting. The pink -and white had returned to the young girl's cheeks. The dark rings -round her eyes had disappeared. Raoul no longer recognized the tragic -face of the day before. If the veil of melancholy over those adorable -features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of -the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he -could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all. -</P> - -<P> -She rose, without showing any emotion, and offered him her hand. But -Raoul's stupefaction was so great that he stood there dumfounded, -without a gesture, without a word. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, M. de Chagny," exclaimed Mamma Valerius, "don't you know our -Christine? Her good genius has sent her back to us!" -</P> - -<P> -"Mamma!" the girl broke in promptly, while a deep blush mantled to her -eyes. "I thought, mamma, that there was to be no more question of -that! ... You know there is no such thing as the Angel of Music!" -</P> - -<P> -"But, child, he gave you lessons for three months!" -</P> - -<P> -"Mamma, I have promised to explain everything to you one of these days; -and I hope to do so but you have promised me, until that day, to be -silent and to ask me no more questions whatever!" -</P> - -<P> -"Provided that you promised never to leave me again! But have you -promised that, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"Mamma, all this can not interest M. de Chagny." -</P> - -<P> -"On the contrary, mademoiselle," said the young man, in a voice which -he tried to make firm and brave, but which still trembled, "anything -that concerns you interests me to an extent which perhaps you will one -day understand. I do not deny that my surprise equals my pleasure at -finding you with your adopted mother and that, after what happened -between us yesterday, after what you said and what I was able to guess, -I hardly expected to see you here so soon. I should be the first to -delight at your return, if you were not so bent on preserving a secrecy -that may be fatal to you ... and I have been your friend too long not -to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, at a disastrous adventure which will -remain dangerous so long as we have not unraveled its threads and of -which you will certainly end by being the victim, Christine." -</P> - -<P> -At these words, Mamma Valerius tossed about in her bed. -</P> - -<P> -"What does this mean?" she cried. "Is Christine in danger?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, madame," said Raoul courageously, notwithstanding the signs which -Christine made to him. -</P> - -<P> -"My God!" exclaimed the good, simple old woman, gasping for breath. -"You must tell me everything, Christine! Why did you try to reassure -me? And what danger is it, M. de Chagny?" -</P> - -<P> -"An impostor is abusing her good faith." -</P> - -<P> -"Is the Angel of Music an impostor?" -</P> - -<P> -"She told you herself that there is no Angel of Music." -</P> - -<P> -"But then what is it, in Heaven's name? You will be the death of me!" -</P> - -<P> -"There is a terrible mystery around us, madame, around you, around -Christine, a mystery much more to be feared than any number of ghosts -or genii!" -</P> - -<P> -Mamma Valerius turned a terrified face to Christine, who had already -run to her adopted mother and was holding her in her arms. -</P> - -<P> -"Don't believe him, mummy, don't believe him," she repeated. -</P> - -<P> -"Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow. -</P> - -<P> -Christine was silent and Raoul resumed. -</P> - -<P> -"That is what you must promise, Christine. It is the only thing that -can reassure your mother and me. We will undertake not to ask you a -single question about the past, if you promise us to remain under our -protection in future." -</P> - -<P> -"That is an undertaking which I have not asked of you and a promise -which I refuse to make you!" said the young girl haughtily. "I am -mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right to control -them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. As to what I have done -during the last fortnight, there is only one man in the world who has -the right to demand an account of me: my husband! Well, I have no -husband and I never mean to marry!" -</P> - -<P> -She threw out her hands to emphasize her words and Raoul turned pale, -not only because of the words which he had heard, but because he had -caught sight of a plain gold ring on Christine's finger. -</P> - -<P> -"You have no husband and yet you wear a wedding-ring." -</P> - -<P> -He tried to seize her hand, but she swiftly drew it back. -</P> - -<P> -"That's a present!" she said, blushing once more and vainly striving to -hide her embarrassment. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been given -by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? Why -torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise has -been accepted!" -</P> - -<P> -"That's what I said!" exclaimed the old lady. -</P> - -<P> -"And what did she answer, madame?" -</P> - -<P> -"What I chose," said Christine, driven to exasperation. "Don't you -think, monsieur, that this cross-examination has lasted long enough? -As far as I am concerned ..." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul was afraid to let her finish her speech. He interrupted her: -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know the -good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, you no -doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to tell you what -I have seen—and I have seen more than you suspect, Christine—or what -I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, I have sometimes been -inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes." -</P> - -<P> -"Well, what did you see, sir, or think you saw?" -</P> - -<P> -"I saw your ecstasy AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE, Christine: the voice -that came from the wall or the next room to yours ... yes, YOUR -ECSTASY! And that is what makes me alarmed on your behalf. You are -under a very dangerous spell. And yet it seems that you are aware of -the imposture, because you say to-day THAT THERE IS NO ANGEL OF MUSIC! -In that case, Christine, why did you follow him that time? Why did you -stand up, with radiant features, as though you were really hearing -angels? ... Ah, it is a very dangerous voice, Christine, for I myself, -when I heard it, was so much fascinated by it that you vanished before -my eyes without my seeing which way you passed! Christine, Christine, -in the name of Heaven, in the name of your father who is in Heaven now -and who loved you so dearly and who loved me too, Christine, tell us, -tell your benefactress and me, to whom does that voice belong? If you -do, we will save you in spite of yourself. Come, Christine, the name -of the man! The name of the man who had the audacity to put a ring on -your finger!" -</P> - -<P> -"M. de Chagny," the girl declared coldly, "you shall never know!" -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon, seeing the hostility with which her ward had addressed the -viscount, Mamma Valerius suddenly took Christine's part. -</P> - -<P> -"And, if she does love that man, Monsieur le Vicomte, even then it is -no business of yours!" -</P> - -<P> -"Alas, madame," Raoul humbly replied, unable to restrain his tears, -"alas, I believe that Christine really does love him! ... But it is not -only that which drives me to despair; for what I am not certain of, -madame, is that the man whom Christine loves is worthy of her love!" -</P> - -<P> -"It is for me to be the judge of that, monsieur!" said Christine, -looking Raoul angrily in the face. -</P> - -<P> -"When a man," continued Raoul, "adopts such romantic methods to entice -a young girl's affections. .." -</P> - -<P> -"The man must be either a villain, or the girl a fool: is that it?" -</P> - -<P> -"Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul, why do you condemn a man whom you have never seen, whom no one -knows and about whom you yourself know nothing?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, Christine ... Yes ... I at least know the name that you thought -to keep from me for ever ... The name of your Angel of Music, -mademoiselle, is Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -Christine at once betrayed herself. She turned as white as a sheet and -stammered: "Who told you?" -</P> - -<P> -"You yourself!" -</P> - -<P> -"How do you mean?" -</P> - -<P> -"By pitying him the other night, the night of the masked ball. When -you went to your dressing-room, did you not say, 'Poor Erik?' Well, -Christine, there was a poor Raoul who overheard you." -</P> - -<P> -"This is the second time that you have listened behind the door, M. de -Chagny!" -</P> - -<P> -"I was not behind the door ... I was in the dressing-room, in the inner -room, mademoiselle." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, unhappy man!" moaned the girl, showing every sign of unspeakable -terror. "Unhappy man! Do you want to be killed?" -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul uttered this "perhaps" with so much love and despair in his voice -that Christine could not keep back a sob. She took his hands and -looked at him with all the pure affection of which she was capable: -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul," she said, "forget THE MAN'S VOICE and do not even remember its -name... You must never try to fathom the mystery of THE MAN'S VOICE." -</P> - -<P> -"Is the mystery so very terrible?" -</P> - -<P> -"There is no more awful mystery on this earth. Swear to me that you -will make no attempt to find out," she insisted. "Swear to me that you -will never come to my dressing-room, unless I send for you." -</P> - -<P> -"Then you promise to send for me sometimes, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"I promise." -</P> - -<P> -"When?" -</P> - -<P> -"To-morrow." -</P> - -<P> -"Then I swear to do as you ask." -</P> - -<P> -He kissed her hands and went away, cursing Erik and resolving to be -patient. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap11"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XI Above the Trap-Doors -</H3> - -<P> -The next day, he saw her at the Opera. She was still wearing the plain -gold ring. She was gentle and kind to him. She talked to him of the -plans which he was forming, of his future, of his career. -</P> - -<P> -He told her that the date of the Polar expedition had been put forward -and that he would leave France in three weeks, or a month at latest. -She suggested, almost gaily, that he must look upon the voyage with -delight, as a stage toward his coming fame. And when he replied that -fame without love was no attraction in his eyes, she treated him as a -child whose sorrows were only short-lived. -</P> - -<P> -"How can you speak so lightly of such serious things?" he asked. -"Perhaps we shall never see each other again! I may die during that -expedition." -</P> - -<P> -"Or I," she said simply. -</P> - -<P> -She no longer smiled or jested. She seemed to be thinking of some new -thing that had entered her mind for the first time. Her eyes were all -aglow with it. -</P> - -<P> -"What are you thinking of, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"I am thinking that we shall not see each other again ..." -</P> - -<P> -"And does that make you so radiant?" -</P> - -<P> -"And that, in a month, we shall have to say good-by for ever!" -</P> - -<P> -"Unless, Christine, we pledge our faith and wait for each other for -ever." -</P> - -<P> -She put her hand on his mouth. -</P> - -<P> -"Hush, Raoul! ... You know there is no question of that ... And we -shall never be married: that is understood!" -</P> - -<P> -She seemed suddenly almost unable to contain an overpowering gaiety. -She clapped her hands with childish glee. Raoul stared at her in -amazement. -</P> - -<P> -"But ... but," she continued, holding out her two hands to Raoul, or -rather giving them to him, as though she had suddenly resolved to make -him a present of them, "but if we can not be married, we can ... we can -be engaged! Nobody will know but ourselves, Raoul. There have been -plenty of secret marriages: why not a secret engagement? ... We are -engaged, dear, for a month! In a month, you will go away, and I can be -happy at the thought of that month all my life long!" -</P> - -<P> -She was enchanted with her inspiration. Then she became serious again. -</P> - -<P> -"This," she said, "IS A HAPPINESS THAT WILL HARM NO ONE." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul jumped at the idea. He bowed to Christine and said: -</P> - -<P> -"Mademoiselle, I have the honor to ask for your hand." -</P> - -<P> -"Why, you have both of them already, my dear betrothed! ... Oh, Raoul, -how happy we shall be! ... We must play at being engaged all day long." -</P> - -<P> -It was the prettiest game in the world and they enjoyed it like the -children that they were. Oh, the wonderful speeches they made to each -other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at hearts as -other children might play at ball; only, as it was really their two -hearts that they flung to and fro, they had to be very, very handy to -catch them, each time, without hurting them. -</P> - -<P> -One day, about a week after the game began, Raoul's heart was badly -hurt and he stopped playing and uttered these wild words: -</P> - -<P> -"I shan't go to the North Pole!" -</P> - -<P> -Christine, who, in her innocence, had not dreamed of such a -possibility, suddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached -herself bitterly. She did not say a word in reply to Raoul's remark -and went straight home. -</P> - -<P> -This happened in the afternoon, in the singer's dressing-room, where -they met every day and where they amused themselves by dining on three -biscuits, two glasses of port and a bunch of violets. In the evening, -she did not sing; and he did not receive his usual letter, though they -had arranged to write to each other daily during that month. The next -morning, he ran off to Mamma Valerius, who told him that Christine had -gone away for two days. She had left at five o'clock the day before. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul was distracted. He hated Mamma Valerius for giving him such news -as that with such stupefying calmness. He tried to sound her, but the -old lady obviously knew nothing. -</P> - -<P> -Christine returned on the following day. She returned in triumph. She -renewed her extraordinary success of the gala performance. Since the -adventure of the "toad," Carlotta had not been able to appear on the -stage. The terror of a fresh "co-ack" filled her heart and deprived -her of all her power of singing; and the theater that had witnessed her -incomprehensible disgrace had become odious to her. She contrived to -cancel her contract. Daae was offered the vacant place for the time. -She received thunders of applause in the Juive. -</P> - -<P> -The viscount, who, of course, was present, was the only one to suffer -on hearing the thousand echoes of this fresh triumph; for Christine -still wore her plain gold ring. A distant voice whispered in the young -man's ear: -</P> - -<P> -"She is wearing the ring again to-night; and you did not give it to -her. She gave her soul again tonight and did not give it to you... If -she will not tell you what she has been doing the past two days ... you -must go and ask Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -He ran behind the scenes and placed himself in her way. She saw him -for her eyes were looking for him. She said: -</P> - -<P> -"Quick! Quick! ... Come!" -</P> - -<P> -And she dragged him to her dressing-room. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul at once threw himself on his knees before her. He swore to her -that he would go and he entreated her never again to withhold a single -hour of the ideal happiness which she had promised him. She let her -tears flow. They kissed like a despairing brother and sister who have -been smitten with a common loss and who meet to mourn a dead parent. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, she snatched herself from the young man's soft and timid -embrace, seemed to listen to something, and, with a quick gesture, -pointed to the door. When he was on the threshold, she said, in so low -a voice that the viscount guessed rather than heard her words: -</P> - -<P> -"To-morrow, my dear betrothed! And be happy, Raoul: I sang for you -to-night!" -</P> - -<P> -He returned the next day. But those two days of absence had broken the -charm of their delightful make-believe. They looked at each other, in -the dressing-room, with their sad eyes, without exchanging a word. -Raoul had to restrain himself not to cry out: -</P> - -<P> -"I am jealous! I am jealous! I am jealous!" -</P> - -<P> -But she heard him all the same. Then she said: -</P> - -<P> -"Come for a walk, dear. The air will do you good." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul thought that she would propose a stroll in the country, far from -that building which he detested as a prison whose jailer he could feel -walking within the walls ... the jailer Erik ... But she took him to -the stage and made him sit on the wooden curb of a well, in the -doubtful peace and coolness of a first scene set for the evening's -performance. -</P> - -<P> -On another day, she wandered with him, hand in, hand, along the -deserted paths of a garden whose creepers had been cut out by a -decorator's skilful hands. It was as though the real sky, the real -flowers, the real earth were forbidden her for all time and she -condemned to breathe no other air than that of the theater. An -occasional fireman passed, watching over their melancholy idyll from -afar. And she would drag him up above the clouds, in the magnificent -disorder of the grid, where she loved to make him giddy by running in -front of him along the frail bridges, among the thousands of ropes -fastened to the pulleys, the windlasses, the rollers, in the midst of a -regular forest of yards and masts. If he hesitated, she said, with an -adorable pout of her lips: -</P> - -<P> -"You, a sailor!" -</P> - -<P> -And then they returned to terra firma, that is to say, to some passage -that led them to the little girls' dancing-school, where brats between -six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope of becoming great -dancers one day, "covered with diamonds ..." Meanwhile, Christine gave -them sweets instead. -</P> - -<P> -She took him to the wardrobe and property-rooms, took him all over her -empire, which was artificial, but immense, covering seventeen stories -from the ground-floor to the roof and inhabited by an army of subjects. -She moved among them like a popular queen, encouraging them in their -labors, sitting down in the workshops, giving words of advice to the -workmen whose hands hesitated to cut into the rich stuffs that were to -clothe heroes. There were inhabitants of that country who practised -every trade. There were cobblers, there were goldsmiths. All had -learned to know her and to love her, for she always interested herself -in all their troubles and all their little hobbies. -</P> - -<P> -She knew unsuspected corners that were secretly occupied by little old -couples. She knocked at their door and introduced Raoul to them as a -Prince Charming who had asked for her hand; and the two of them, -sitting on some worm-eaten "property," would listen to the legends of -the Opera, even as, in their childhood, they had listened to the old -Breton tales. Those old people remembered nothing outside the Opera. -They had lived there for years without number. Past managements had -forgotten them; palace revolutions had taken no notice of them; the -history of France had run its course unknown to them; and nobody -recollected their existence. -</P> - -<P> -The precious days sped in this way; and Raoul and Christine, by -affecting excessive interest in outside matters, strove awkwardly to -hide from each other the one thought of their hearts. One fact was -certain, that Christine, who until then had shown herself the stronger -of the two, became suddenly inexpressibly nervous. When on their -expeditions, she would start running without reason or else suddenly -stop; and her hand, turning ice-cold in a moment, would hold the young -man back. Sometimes her eyes seemed to pursue imaginary shadows. She -cried, "This way," and "This way," and "This way," laughing a -breathless laugh that often ended in tears. Then Raoul tried to speak, -to question her, in spite of his promises. But, even before he had -worded his question, she answered feverishly: -</P> - -<P> -"Nothing ... I swear it is nothing." -</P> - -<P> -Once, when they were passing before an open trapdoor on the stage, -Raoul stopped over the dark cavity. -</P> - -<P> -"You have shown me over the upper part of your empire, Christine, but -there are strange stories told of the lower part. Shall we go down?" -</P> - -<P> -She caught him in her arms, as though she feared to see him disappear -down the black hole, and, in a trembling voice, whispered: -</P> - -<P> -"Never! ... I will not have you go there! ... Besides, it's not mine -... EVERYTHING THAT IS UNDERGROUND BELONGS TO HIM!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul looked her in the eyes and said roughly: -</P> - -<P> -"So he lives down there, does he?" -</P> - -<P> -"I never said so ... Who told you a thing like that? Come away! I -sometimes wonder if you are quite sane, Raoul ... You always take -things in such an impossible way ... Come along! Come!" -</P> - -<P> -And she literally dragged him away, for he was obstinate and wanted to -remain by the trap-door; that hole attracted him. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, the trap-door was closed and so quickly that they did not -even see the hand that worked it; and they remained quite dazed. -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps HE was there," Raoul said, at last. -</P> - -<P> -She shrugged her shoulders, but did not seem easy. -</P> - -<P> -"No, no, it was the 'trap-door-shutters.' They must do something, you -know ... They open and shut the trap-doors without any particular -reason ... It's like the 'door-shutters:' they must spend their time -somehow." -</P> - -<P> -"But suppose it were HE, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, no! He has shut himself up, he is working." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, really! He's working, is he?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, he can't open and shut the trap-doors and work at the same time." -She shivered. -</P> - -<P> -"What is he working at?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, something terrible! ... But it's all the better for us... When -he's working at that, he sees nothing; he does not eat, drink, or -breathe for days and nights at a time ... he becomes a living dead man -and has no time to amuse himself with the trap-doors." She shivered -again. She was still holding him in her arms. Then she sighed and -said, in her turn: -</P> - -<P> -"Suppose it were HE!" -</P> - -<P> -"Are you afraid of him?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, no, of course not," she said. -</P> - -<P> -For all that, on the next day and the following days, Christine was -careful to avoid the trap-doors. Her agitation only increased as the -hours passed. At last, one afternoon, she arrived very late, with her -face so desperately pale and her eyes so desperately red, that Raoul -resolved to go to all lengths, including that which he foreshadowed -when he blurted out that he would not go on the North Pole expedition -unless she first told him the secret of the man's voice. -</P> - -<P> -"Hush! Hush, in Heaven's name! Suppose HE heard you, you unfortunate -Raoul!" -</P> - -<P> -And Christine's eyes stared wildly at everything around her. -</P> - -<P> -"I will remove you from his power, Christine, I swear it. And you -shall not think of him any more." -</P> - -<P> -"Is it possible?" -</P> - -<P> -She allowed herself this doubt, which was an encouragernent, while -dragging the young man up to the topmost floor of the theater, far, -very far from the trap-doors. -</P> - -<P> -"I shall hide you in some unknown corner of the world, where HE can not -come to look for you. You will be safe; and then I shall go away ... -as you have sworn never to marry." -</P> - -<P> -Christine seized Raoul's hands and squeezed them with incredible -rapture. But, suddenly becoming alarmed again, she turned away her -head. -</P> - -<P> -"Higher!" was all she said. "Higher still!" -</P> - -<P> -And she dragged him up toward the summit. -</P> - -<P> -He had a difficulty in following her. They were soon under the very -roof, in the maze of timber-work. They slipped through the buttresses, -the rafters, the joists; they ran from beam to beam as they might have -run from tree to tree in a forest. -</P> - -<P> -And, despite the care which she took to look behind her at every -moment, she failed to see a shadow which followed her like her own -shadow, which stopped when she stopped, which started again when she -did and which made no more noise than a well-conducted shadow should. -As for Raoul, he saw nothing either; for, when he had Christine in -front of him, nothing interested him that happened behind. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap12"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XII Apollo's Lyre -</H3> - -<P> -On this way, they reached the roof. Christine tripped over it as -lightly as a swallow. Their eyes swept the empty space between the -three domes and the triangular pediment. She breathed freely over -Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below. She called -Raoul to come quite close to her and they walked side by side along the -zinc streets, in the leaden avenues; they looked at their twin shapes -in the huge tanks, full of stagnant water, where, in the hot weather, -the little boys of the ballet, a score or so, learn to swim and dive. -</P> - -<P> -The shadow had followed behind them clinging to their steps; and the -two children little suspected its presence when they at last sat down, -trustingly, under the mighty protection of Apollo, who, with a great -bronze gesture, lifted his huge lyre to the heart of a crimson sky. -</P> - -<P> -It was a gorgeous spring evening. Clouds, which had just received -their gossamer robe of gold and purple from the setting sun, drifted -slowly by; and Christine said to Raoul: -</P> - -<P> -"Soon we shall go farther and faster than the clouds, to the end of the -world, and then you will leave me, Raoul. But, if, when the moment -comes for you to take me away, I refuse to go with you—well you must -carry me off by force!" -</P> - -<P> -"Are you afraid that you will change your mind, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"I don't know," she said, shaking her head in an odd fashion. "He is a -demon!" And she shivered and nestled in his arms with a moan. "I am -afraid now of going back to live with him ... in the ground!" -</P> - -<P> -"What compels you to go back, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen! ... But -I can't do it, I can't do it! ... I know one ought to be sorry for -people who live underground ... But he is too horrible! And yet the -time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I do not go, he will -come and fetch me with his voice. And he will drag me with him, -underground, and go on his knees before me, with his death's head. And -he will tell me that he loves me! And he will cry! Oh, those tears, -Raoul, those tears in the two black eye-sockets of the death's head! I -can not see those tears flow again!" -</P> - -<P> -She wrung her hands in anguish, while Raoul pressed her to his heart. -</P> - -<P> -"No, no, you shall never again hear him tell you that he loves you! -You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly at -once!" -</P> - -<P> -And he tried to drag her away, then and there. But she stopped him. -</P> - -<P> -"No, no," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Not now! ... It would be -too cruel ... let him hear me sing to-morrow evening ... and then we -will go away. You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room at -midnight exactly. He will then be waiting for me in the dining-room by -the lake ... we shall be free and you shall take me away ... You must -promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse; for I feel that, if I go back -this time, I shall perhaps never return." -</P> - -<P> -And she gave a sigh to which it seemed to her that another sigh, behind -her, replied. -</P> - -<P> -"Didn't you hear?" -</P> - -<P> -Her teeth chattered. -</P> - -<P> -"No," said Raoul, "I heard nothing." -</P> - -<P> -"It is too terrible," she confessed, "to be always trembling like this! -... And yet we run no danger here; we are at home, in the sky, in the -open air, in the light. The sun is flaming; and night-birds can not -bear to look at the sun. I have never seen him by daylight ... it must -be awful! ... Oh, the first time I saw him! ... I thought that he was -going to die." -</P> - -<P> -"Why?" asked Raoul, really frightened at the aspect which this strange -confidence was taking. -</P> - -<P> -"BECAUSE I HAD SEEN HIM!" -</P> - -<P> -This time, Raoul and Christine turned round at the same time: -</P> - -<P> -"There is some one in pain," said Raoul. "Perhaps some one has been -hurt. Did you hear?" -</P> - -<P> -"I can't say," Christine confessed. "Even when he is not there, my -ears are full of his sighs. Still, if you heard ..." -</P> - -<P> -They stood up and looked around them. They were quite alone on the -immense lead roof. They sat down again and Raoul said: -</P> - -<P> -"Tell me how you saw him first." -</P> - -<P> -"I had heard him for three months without seeing him. The first time I -heard it, I thought, as you did, that that adorable voice was singing -in another room. I went out and looked everywhere; but, as you know, -Raoul, my dressing-room is very much by itself; and I could not find -the voice outside my room, whereas it went on steadily inside. And it -not only sang, but it spoke to me and answered my questions, like a -real man's voice, with this difference, that it was as beautiful as the -voice of an angel. I had never got the Angel of Music whom my poor -father had promised to send me as soon as he was dead. I really think -that Mamma Valerius was a little bit to blame. I told her about it; -and she at once said, 'It must be the Angel; at any rate, you can do no -harm by asking him.' I did so; and the man's voice replied that, yes, -it was the Angel's voice, the voice which I was expecting and which my -father had promised me. From that time onward, the voice and I became -great friends. It asked leave to give me lessons every day. I agreed -and never failed to keep the appointment which it gave me in my -dressing-room. You have no idea, though you have heard the voice, of -what those lessons were like." -</P> - -<P> -"No, I have no idea," said Raoul. "What was your accompaniment?" -</P> - -<P> -"We were accompanied by a music which I do not know: it was behind the -wall and wonderfully accurate. The voice seemed to understand mine -exactly, to know precisely where my father had left off teaching me. -In a few weeks' time, I hardly knew myself when I sang. I was even -frightened. I seemed to dread a sort of witchcraft behind it; but -Mamma Valerius reassured me. She said that she knew I was much too -simple a girl to give the devil a hold on me ... My progress, by the -voice's own order, was kept a secret between the voice, Mamma Valerius -and myself. It was a curious thing, but, outside the dressing-room, I -sang with my ordinary, every-day voice and nobody noticed anything. I -did all that the voice asked. It said, 'Wait and see: we shall -astonish Paris!' And I waited and lived on in a sort of ecstatic dream. -It was then that I saw you for the first time one evening, in the -house. I was so glad that I never thought of concealing my delight -when I reached my dressing-room. Unfortunately, the voice was there -before me and soon noticed, by my air, that something had happened. It -asked what was the matter and I saw no reason for keeping our story -secret or concealing the place which you filled in my heart. Then the -voice was silent. I called to it, but it did not reply; I begged and -entreated, but in vain. I was terrified lest it had gone for good. I -wish to Heaven it had, dear! ... That night, I went home in a -desperate condition. I told Mamma Valerius, who said, 'Why, of course, -the voice is jealous!' And that, dear, first revealed to me that I -loved you." -</P> - -<P> -Christine stopped and laid her head on Raoul's shoulder. They sat like -that for a moment, in silence, and they did not see, did not perceive -the movement, at a few steps from them, of the creeping shadow of two -great black wings, a shadow that came along the roof so near, so near -them that it could have stifled them by closing over them. -</P> - -<P> -"The next day," Christine continued, with a sigh, "I went back to my -dressing-room in a very pensive frame of mind. The voice was there, -spoke to me with great sadness and told me plainly that, if I must -bestow my heart on earth, there was nothing for the voice to do but to -go back to Heaven. And it said this with such an accent of HUMAN -sorrow that I ought then and there to have suspected and begun to -believe that I was the victim of my deluded senses. But my faith in -the voice, with which the memory of my father was so closely -intermingled, remained undisturbed. I feared nothing so much as that I -might never hear it again; I had thought about my love for you and -realized all the useless danger of it; and I did not even know if you -remembered me. Whatever happened, your position in society forbade me -to contemplate the possibility of ever marrying you; and I swore to the -voice that you were no more than a brother to me nor ever would be and -that my heart was incapable of any earthly love. And that, dear, was -why I refused to recognize or see you when I met you on the stage or in -the passages. Meanwhile, the hours during which the voice taught me -were spent in a divine frenzy, until, at last, the voice said to me, -'You can now, Christine Daae, give to men a little of the music of -Heaven.' I don't know how it was that Carlotta did not come to the -theater that night nor why I was called upon to sing in her stead; but -I sang with a rapture I had never known before and I felt for a moment -as if my soul were leaving my body!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, Christine," said Raoul, "my heart quivered that night at every -accent of your voice. I saw the tears stream down your cheeks and I -wept with you. How could you sing, sing like that while crying?" -</P> - -<P> -"I felt myself fainting," said Christine, "I closed my eyes. When I -opened them, you were by my side. But the voice was there also, Raoul! -I was afraid for your sake and again I would not recognize you and -began to laugh when you reminded me that you had picked up my scarf in -the sea! ... Alas, there is no deceiving the voice! ... The voice -recognized you and the voice was jealous! ... It said that, if I did -not love you, I would not avoid you, but treat you like any other old -friend. It made me scene upon scene. At last, I said to the voice, -'That will do! I am going to Perros to-morrow, to pray on my father's -grave, and I shall ask M. Raoul de Chagny to go with me.' 'Do as you -please,' replied the voice, 'but I shall be at Perros too, for I am -wherever you are, Christine; and, if you are still worthy of me, if you -have not lied to me, I will play you The Resurrection of Lazarus, on -the stroke of midnight, on your father's tomb and on your father's -violin.' That, dear, was how I came to write you the letter that -brought you to Perros. How could I have been so beguiled? How was it, -when I saw the personal, the selfish point of view of the voice, that I -did not suspect some impostor? Alas, I was no longer mistress of -myself: I had become his thing!" -</P> - -<P> -"But, after all," cried Raoul, "you soon came to know the truth! Why -did you not at once rid yourself of that abominable nightmare?" -</P> - -<P> -"Know the truth, Raoul? Rid myself of that nightmare? But, my poor -boy, I was not caught in the nightmare until the day when I learned the -truth! ... Pity me, Raoul, pity me! ... You remember the terrible -evening when Carlotta thought that she had been turned into a toad on -the stage and when the house was suddenly plunged in darkness through -the chandelier crashing to the floor? There were killed and wounded -that night and the whole theater rang with terrified screams. My first -thought was for you and the voice. I was at once easy, where you were -concerned, for I had seen you in your brother's box and I knew that you -were not in danger. But the voice had told me that it would be at the -performance and I was really afraid for it, just as if it had been an -ordinary person who was capable of dying. I thought to myself, 'The -chandelier may have come down upon the voice.' I was then on the stage -and was nearly running into the house, to look for the voice among the -killed and wounded, when I thought that, if the voice was safe, it -would be sure to be in my dressing-room and I rushed to my room. The -voice was not there. I locked my door and, with tears in my eyes, -besought it, if it were still alive, to manifest itself to me. The -voice did not reply, but suddenly I heard a long, beautiful wail which -I knew well. It is the plaint of Lazarus when, at the sound of the -Redeemer's voice, he begins to open his eyes and see the light of day. -It was the music which you and I, Raoul, heard at Perros. And then the -voice began to sing the leading phrase, 'Come! And believe in me! -Whoso believes in me shall live! Walk! Whoso hath believed in me -shall never die! ...' I can not tell you the effect which that music -had upon me. It seemed to command me, personally, to come, to stand up -and come to it. It retreated and I followed. 'Come! And believe in -me!' I believed in it, I came ... I came and—this was the -extraordinary thing—my dressing-room, as I moved, seemed to lengthen -out ... to lengthen out ... Evidently, it must have been an effect of -mirrors ... for I had the mirror in front of me ... And, suddenly, I -was outside the room without knowing how!" -</P> - -<P> -"What! Without knowing how? Christine, Christine, you must really -stop dreaming!" -</P> - -<P> -"I was not dreaming, dear, I was outside my room without knowing how. -You, who saw me disappear from my room one evening, may be able to -explain it; but I can not. I can only tell you that, suddenly, there -was no mirror before me and no dressing-room. I was in a dark passage, -I was frightened and I cried out. It was quite dark, but for a faint -red glimmer at a distant corner of the wall. I tried out. My voice -was the only sound, for the singing and the violin had stopped. And, -suddenly, a hand was laid on mine ... or rather a stone-cold, bony -thing that seized my wrist and did not let go. I cried out again. An -arm took me round the waist and supported me. I struggled for a little -while and then gave up the attempt. I was dragged toward the little -red light and then I saw that I was in the hands of a man wrapped in a -large cloak and wearing a mask that hid his whole face. I made one -last effort; my limbs stiffened, my mouth opened to scream, but a hand -closed it, a hand which I felt on my lips, on my skin ... a hand that -smelt of death. Then I fainted away. -</P> - -<P> -"When I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded by darkness. A -lantern, standing on the ground, showed a bubbling well. The water -splashing from the well disappeared, almost at once, under the floor on -which I was lying, with my head on the knee of the man in the black -cloak and the black mask. He was bathing my temples and his hands -smelt of death. I tried to push them away and asked, 'Who are you? -Where is the voice?' His only answer was a sigh. Suddenly, a hot -breath passed over my face and I perceived a white shape, beside the -man's black shape, in the darkness. The black shape lifted me on to -the white shape, a glad neighing greeted my astounded ears and I -murmured, 'Cesar!' The animal quivered. Raoul, I was lying half back -on a saddle and I had recognized the white horse out of the PROFETA, -which I had so often fed with sugar and sweets. I remembered that, one -evening, there was a rumor in the theater that the horse had -disappeared and that it had been stolen by the Opera ghost. I believed -in the voice, but had never believed in the ghost. Now, however, I -began to wonder, with a shiver, whether I was the ghost's prisoner. I -called upon the voice to help me, for I should never have imagined that -the voice and the ghost were one. You have heard about the Opera -ghost, have you not, Raoul?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, but tell me what happened when you were on the white horse of the -Profeta?" -</P> - -<P> -"I made no movement and let myself go. The black shape held me up, and -I made no effort to escape. A curious feeling of peacefulness came -over me and I thought that I must be under the influence of some -cordial. I had the full command of my senses; and my eyes became used -to the darkness, which was lit, here and there, by fitful gleams. I -calculated that we were in a narrow circular gallery, probably running -all round the Opera, which is immense, underground. I had once been -down into those cellars, but had stopped at the third floor, though -there were two lower still, large enough to hold a town. But the -figures of which I caught sight had made me run away. There are demons -down there, quite black, standing in front of boilers, and they wield -shovels and pitchforks and poke up fires and stir up flames and, if you -come too near them, they frighten you by suddenly opening the red -mouths of their furnaces ... Well, while Cesar was quietly carrying me -on his back, I saw those black demons in the distance, looking quite -small, in front of the red fires of their furnaces: they came into -sight, disappeared and came into sight again, as we went on our winding -way. At last, they disappeared altogether. The shape was still -holding me up and Cesar walked on, unled and sure-footed. I could not -tell you, even approximately, how long this ride lasted; I only know -that we seemed to turn and turn and often went down a spiral stair into -the very heart of the earth. Even then, it may be that my head was -turning, but I don't think so: no, my mind was quite clear. At last, -Cesar raised his nostrils, sniffed the air and quickened his pace a -little. I felt a moistness in the air and Cesar stopped. The darkness -had lifted. A sort of bluey light surrounded us. We were on the edge -of a lake, whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the -darkness; but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat -fastened to an iron ring on the wharf!" -</P> - -<P> -"A boat!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing -supernatural about that underground lake and boat. But think of the -exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't -know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's -shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again. My -gruesome escort must have noticed it, for he sent Cesar back and I -heard his hoofs trampling up a staircase while the man jumped into the -boat, untied the rope that held it and seized the oars. He rowed with -a quick, powerful stroke; and his eyes, under the mask, never left me. -We slipped across the noiseless water in the bluey light which I told -you of; then we were in the dark again and we touched shore. And I was -once more taken up in the man's arms. I cried aloud. And then, -suddenly, I was silent, dazed by the light... Yes, a dazzling light in -the midst of which I had been put down. I sprang to my feet. I was in -the middle of a drawing-room that seemed to me to be decorated, adorned -and furnished with nothing but flowers, flowers both magnificent and -stupid, because of the silk ribbons that tied them to baskets, like -those which they sell in the shops on the boulevards. They were much -too civilized flowers, like those which I used to find in my -dressing-room after a first night. And, in the midst of all these -flowers, stood the black shape of the man in the mask, with arms -crossed, and he said, 'Don't be afraid, Christine; you are in no -danger.' IT WAS THE VOICE! -</P> - -<P> -"My anger equaled my amazement. I rushed at the mask and tried to -snatch it away, so as to see the face of the voice. The man said, 'You -are in no danger, so long as you do not touch the mask.' And, taking me -gently by the wrists, he forced me into a chair and then went down on -his knees before me and said nothing more! His humility gave me back -some of my courage; and the light restored me to the realties of life. -However extraordinary the adventure might be, I was now surrounded by -mortal, visible, tangible things. The furniture, the hangings, the -candles, the vases and the very flowers in their baskets, of which I -could almost have told whence they came and what they cost, were bound -to confine my imagination to the limits of a drawing-room quite as -commonplace as any that, at least, had the excuse of not being in the -cellars of the Opera. I had, no doubt, to do with a terrible, -eccentric person, who, in some mysterious fashion, had succeeded in -taking up his abode there, under the Opera house, five stories below -the level of the ground. And the voice, the voice which I had -recognized under the mask, was on its knees before me, WAS A MAN! And -I began to cry... The man, still kneeling, must have understood the -cause of my tears, for he said, 'It is true, Christine! ... I am not an -Angel, nor a genius, nor a ghost ... I am Erik!'" -</P> - -<P> -Christine's narrative was again interrupted. An echo behind them -seemed to repeat the word after her. -</P> - -<P> -"Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -What echo? ... They both turned round and saw that night had fallen. -Raoul made a movement as though to rise, but Christine kept him beside -her. -</P> - -<P> -"Don't go," she said. "I want you to know everything HERE!" -</P> - -<P> -"But why here, Christine? I am afraid of your catching cold." -</P> - -<P> -"We have nothing to fear except the trap-doors, dear, and here we are -miles away from the trap-doors ... and I am not allowed to see you -outside the theater. This is not the time to annoy him. We must not -arouse his suspicion." -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong to wait -till to-morrow evening and that we ought to fly at once." -</P> - -<P> -"I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will cause -him infinite pain." -</P> - -<P> -"It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him for -good." -</P> - -<P> -"You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight." -And she added in a dull voice, "But then it counts both ways ... for -we risk his killing us." -</P> - -<P> -"Does he love you so much?" -</P> - -<P> -"He would commit murder for me." -</P> - -<P> -"But one can find out where he lives. One can go in search of him. -Now that we know that Erik is not a ghost, one can speak to him and -force him to answer!" -</P> - -<P> -Christine shook her head. -</P> - -<P> -"No, no! There is nothing to be done with Erik except to run away!" -</P> - -<P> -"Then why, when you were able to run away, did you go back to him?" -</P> - -<P> -"Because I had to. And you will understand that when I tell you how I -left him." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, I hate him!" cried Raoul. "And you, Christine, tell me, do you -hate him too?" -</P> - -<P> -"No," said Christine simply. -</P> - -<P> -"No, of course not ... Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, all -of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind -which people do not admit even to themselves," said Raoul bitterly. -"The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it... Picture it: -a man who lives in a palace underground!" And he gave a leer. -</P> - -<P> -"Then you want me to go back there?" said the young girl cruelly. -"Take care, Raoul; I have told you: I should never return!" -</P> - -<P> -There was an appalling silence between the three of them: the two who -spoke and the shadow that listened, behind them. -</P> - -<P> -"Before answering that," said Raoul, at last, speaking very slowly, "I -should like to know with what feeling he inspires you, since you do not -hate him." -</P> - -<P> -"With horror!" she said. "That is the terrible thing about it. He -fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I hate him, Raoul? -Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on the lake, underground. He -accuses himself, he curses himself, he implores my forgiveness! ... He -confesses his cheat. He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and -tragic love... He has carried me off for love! ... He has imprisoned -me with him, underground, for love! ... But he respects me: he crawls, -he moans, he weeps! ... And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told him that -I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, give me my -liberty ... he offered it ... he offered to show me the mysterious road -... Only ... only he rose too ... and I was made to remember that, -though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, nor a genius, he remained the -voice ... for he sang. And I listened ... and stayed! ... That night, -we did not exchange another word. He sang me to sleep. -</P> - -<P> -"When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished -little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp -standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. -I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from -my room led to a very comfortable bath-room. On returning to the -bedroom, I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, -'My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. You have -no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. You are -alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going out -shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.' I felt sure -that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. I ran round my little -apartment, looking for a way of escape which I could not find. I -upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, which had caused me to -fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh and to cry at the same -time. -</P> - -<P> -"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving three -taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I had not -noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full of boxes and -parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely fashion, while I -overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon him to take off his mask, if -it covered the face of an honest man. He replied serenely, 'You shall -never see Erik's face.' And he reproached me with not having finished -dressing at that time of day: he was good enough to tell me that it was -two o'clock in the afternoon. He said he would give me half an hour -and, while he spoke, wound up my watch and set it for me. After which, -he asked me to come to the dining-room, where a nice lunch was waiting -for us. -</P> - -<P> -"I was very angry, slammed the door in his face and went to the -bath-room ... When I came out again, feeling greatly refreshed, Erik -said that he loved me, but that he would never tell me so except when I -allowed him and that the rest of the time would be devoted to music. -'What do you mean by the rest of the time?' I asked. 'Five days,' he -said, with decision. I asked him if I should then be free and he said, -'You will be free, Christine, for, when those five days are past, you -will have learned not to see me; and then, from time to time, you will -come to see your poor Erik!' He pointed to a chair opposite him, at a -small table, and I sat down, feeling greatly perturbed. However, I ate -a few prawns and the wing of a chicken and drank half a glass of tokay, -which he had himself, he told me, brought from the Konigsberg cellars. -Erik did not eat or drink. I asked him what his nationality was and if -that name of Erik did not point to his Scandinavian origin. He said -that he had no name and no country and that he had taken the name of -Erik by accident. -</P> - -<P> -"After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, saying he -would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away my hand and -gave a cry. What I had touched was cold and, at the same time, bony; -and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. 'Oh, forgive me!' he -moaned. And he opened a door before me. 'This is my bedroom, if you -care to see it. It is rather curious.' His manners, his words, his -attitude gave me confidence and I went in without hesitation. I felt -as if I were entering the room of a dead person. The walls were all -hung with black, but, instead of the white trimmings that usually set -off that funereal upholstery, there was an enormous stave of music with -the notes of the DIES IRAE, many times repeated. In the middle of the -room was a canopy, from which hung curtains of red brocaded stuff, and, -under the canopy, an open coffin. 'That is where I sleep,' said Erik. -'One has to get used to everything in life, even to eternity.' The -sight upset me so much that I turned away my head. -</P> - -<P> -"Then I saw the keyboard of an organ which filled one whole side of the -walls. On the desk was a music-book covered with red notes. I asked -leave to look at it and read, 'Don Juan Triumphant.' 'Yes,' he said, 'I -compose sometimes.' I began that work twenty years ago. When I have -finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin and never wake up -again.' 'You must work at it as seldom as you can,' I said. He -replied, 'I sometimes work at it for fourteen days and nights together, -during which I live on music only, and then I rest for years at a -time.' 'Will you play me something out of your Don Juan Triumphant?' I -asked, thinking to please him. 'You must never ask me that,' he said, -in a gloomy voice. 'I will play you Mozart, if you like, which will -only make you weep; but my Don Juan, Christine, burns; and yet he is -not struck by fire from Heaven.' Thereupon we returned to the -drawing-room. I noticed that there was no mirror in the whole -apartment. I was going to remark upon this, but Erik had already sat -down to the piano. He said, 'You see, Christine, there is some music -that is so terrible that it consumes all those who approach it. -Fortunately, you have not come to that music yet, for you would lose -all your pretty coloring and nobody would know you when you returned to -Paris. Let us sing something from the Opera, Christine Daae.' He spoke -these last words as though he were flinging an insult at me." -</P> - -<P> -"What did you do?" -</P> - -<P> -"I had no time to think about the meaning he put into his words. We at -once began the duet in Othello and already the catastrophe was upon us. -I sang Desdemona with a despair, a terror which I had never displayed -before. As for him, his voice thundered forth his revengeful soul at -every note. Love, jealousy, hatred, burst out around us in harrowing -cries. Erik's black mask made me think of the natural mask of the Moor -of Venice. He was Othello himself. Suddenly, I felt a need to see -beneath the mask. I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a -movement which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore -away the mask. Oh, horror, horror, horror!" -</P> - -<P> -Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, -while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, now -thrice moaned the cry: -</P> - -<P> -"Horror! ... Horror! ... Horror!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul and Christine, clasping each other closely, raised their eyes to -the stars that shone in a clear and peaceful sky. Raoul said: -</P> - -<P> -"Strange, Christine, that this calm, soft night should be so full of -plaintive sounds. One would think that it was sorrowing with us." -</P> - -<P> -"When you know the secret, Raoul, your ears, like mine, will be full of -lamentations." -</P> - -<P> -She took Raoul's protecting hands in hers and, with a long shiver, -continued: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, if I lived to be a hundred, I should always hear the superhuman -cry of grief and rage which he uttered when the terrible sight appeared -before my eyes ... Raoul, you have seen death's heads, when they have -been dried and withered by the centuries, and, perhaps, if you were not -the victim of a nightmare, you saw HIS death's head at Perros. And -then you saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. But all -those death's heads were motionless and their dumb horror was not -alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death's mask suddenly coming to -life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, its -nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; AND -NOT A RAY OF LIGHT FROM THE SOCKETS, for, as I learned later, you can -not see his blazing eyes except in the dark. -</P> - -<P> -"I fell back against the wall and he came up to me, grinding his teeth, -and, as I fell upon my knees, he hissed mad, incoherent words and -curses at me. Leaning over me, he cried, 'Look! You want to see! See! -Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik's -face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to -hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like! Oh, you women are -so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I'm a very good-looking -fellow, eh? ... When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to -me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!' And, -drawing himself up to his full height, with his hand on his hip, -wagging the hideous thing that was his head on his shoulders, he -roared, 'Look at me! I AM DON JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned -away my head and begged for mercy, he drew it to him, brutally, -twisting his dead fingers into my hair." -</P> - -<P> -"Enough! Enough!" cried Raoul. "I will kill him. In Heaven's name, -Christine, tell me where the dining-room on the lake is! I must kill -him!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, be quiet, Raoul, if you want to know!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, I want to know how and why you went back; I must know! ... But, -in any case, I will kill him!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, Raoul, listen, listen! ... He dragged me by my hair and then ... -and then ... Oh, it is too horrible!" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, what? Out with it!" exclaimed Raoul fiercely. "Out with it, -quick!" -</P> - -<P> -"Then he hissed at me. 'Ah, I frighten you, do I? ... I dare say! ... -Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that this ... this -... my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, 'tear it off as you did the -other! Come! Come along! I insist! Your hands! Your hands! Give -me your hands!' And he seized my hands and dug them into his awful -face. He tore his flesh with my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh -with my nails! ... 'Know,' he shouted, while his throat throbbed and -panted like a furnace, 'know that I am built up of death from head to -foot and that it is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will -never, never leave you! ... Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, -crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore -can never leave me again! ... As long as you thought me handsome, you -could have come back, I know you would have come back ... but, now that -you know my hideousness, you would run away for good... So I shall keep -you here! ... Why did you want to see me? Oh, mad Christine, who -wanted to see me! ... When my own father never saw me and when my -mother, so as not to see me, made me a present of my first mask!' -</P> - -<P> -"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the -floor, uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, -went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my -reflections. Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I -began to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about -Opera music. What I now heard was utterly different from what I had -heard up to then. His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but -that he had rushed to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the -moment) seemed to me at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, -little by little, it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which -mankind is capable. It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that -separated us. Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY -DIRECTION. 'Erik,' I cried, 'show me your face without fear! I swear -that you are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I -shiver when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the -splendor of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, -and I also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love -... with words of love in his dead mouth ... and the music had ceased -... He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my -eyes. -</P> - -<P> -"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy. It went on -for a fortnight—a fortnight during which I lied to him. My lies were -as hideous as the monster who inspired them; but they were the price of -my liberty. I burned his mask; and I managed so well that, even when -he was not singing, he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its -master. He was my faithful slave and paid me endless little -attentions. Gradually, I gave him such confidence that he ventured to -take me walking on the banks of the lake and to row me in the boat on -its leaden waters; toward the end of my captivity he let me out through -the gates that closed the underground passages in the Rue Scribe. Here -a carriage awaited us and took us to the Bois. The night when we met -you was nearly fatal to me, for he is terribly jealous of you and I had -to tell him that you were soon going away ... Then, at last, after a -fortnight of that horrible captivity, during which I was filled with -pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, he believed me when I -said, 'I WILL COME BACK!'" -</P> - -<P> -"And you went back, Christine," groaned Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, dear, and I must tell you that it was not his frightful threats -when setting me free that helped me to keep my word, but the harrowing -sob which he gave on the threshold of the tomb. ... That sob attached -me to the unfortunate man more than I myself suspected when saying -good-by to him. Poor Erik! Poor Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -"Christine," said Raoul, rising, "you tell me that you love me; but you -had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you returned to -Erik! Remember the masked ball!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes; and do you remember those hours which I passed with you, Raoul -... to the great danger of both of us?" -</P> - -<P> -"I doubted your love for me, during those hours." -</P> - -<P> -"Do you doubt it still, Raoul? ... Then know that each of my visits to -Erik increased my horror of him; for each of those visits, instead of -calming him, as I hoped, made him mad with love! And I am so -frightened, so frightened! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"You are frightened ... but do you love me? If Erik were good-looking, -would you love me, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -She rose in her turn, put her two trembling arms round the young man's -neck and said: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, my betrothed of a day, if I did not love you, I would not give you -my lips! Take them, for the first time and the last." -</P> - -<P> -He kissed her lips; but the night that surrounded them was rent -asunder, they fled as at the approach of a storm and their eyes, filled -with dread of Erik, showed them, before they disappeared, high up above -them, an immense night-bird that stared at them with its blazing eyes -and seemed to cling to the string of Apollo's lyre. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap13"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XIII A Master-Stroke of the Trap-Door Lover -</H3> - -<P> -Raoul and Christine ran, eager to escape from the roof and the blazing -eyes that showed only in the dark; and they did not stop before they -came to the eighth floor on the way down. -</P> - -<P> -There was no performance at the Opera that night and the passages were -empty. Suddenly, a queer-looking form stood before them and blocked -the road: -</P> - -<P> -"No, not this way!" -</P> - -<P> -And the form pointed to another passage by which they were to reach the -wings. Raoul wanted to stop and ask for an explanation. But the form, -which wore a sort of long frock-coat and a pointed cap, said: -</P> - -<P> -"Quick! Go away quickly!" -</P> - -<P> -Christine was already dragging Raoul, compelling him to start running -again. -</P> - -<P> -"But who is he? Who is that man?" he asked. -</P> - -<P> -Christine replied: "It's the Persian." -</P> - -<P> -"What's he doing here?" -</P> - -<P> -"Nobody knows. He is always in the Opera." -</P> - -<P> -"You are making me run away, for the first time in my life. If we -really saw Erik, what I ought to have done was to nail him to Apollo's -lyre, just as we nail the owls to the walls of our Breton farms; and -there would have been no more question of him." -</P> - -<P> -"My dear Raoul, you would first have had to climb up to Apollo's lyre: -that is no easy matter." -</P> - -<P> -"The blazing eyes were there!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, you are getting like me now, seeing him everywhere! What I took -for blazing eyes was probably a couple of stars shining through the -strings of the lyre." -</P> - -<P> -And Christine went down another floor, with Raoul following her. -</P> - -<P> -"As you have quite made up your mind to go, Christine, I assure you it -would be better to go at once. Why wait for to-morrow? He may have -heard us to-night." -</P> - -<P> -"No, no, he is working, I tell you, at his Don Juan Triumphant and not -thinking of us." -</P> - -<P> -"You're so sure of that you keep on looking behind you!" -</P> - -<P> -"Come to my dressing-room." -</P> - -<P> -"Hadn't we better meet outside the Opera?" -</P> - -<P> -"Never, till we go away for good! It would bring us bad luck, if I did -not keep my word. I promised him to see you only here." -</P> - -<P> -"It's a good thing for me that he allowed you even that. Do you know," -said Raoul bitterly, "that it was very plucky of you to let us play at -being engaged?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, my dear, he knows all about it! He said, 'I trust you, -Christine. M. de Chagny is in love with you and is going abroad. -Before he goes, I want him to be as happy as I am.' Are people so -unhappy when they love?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved." -</P> - -<P> -They came to Christine's dressing-room. -</P> - -<P> -"Why do you think that you are safer in this room than on the stage?" -asked Raoul. "You heard him through the walls here, therefore he can -certainly hear us." -</P> - -<P> -"No. He gave me his word not to be behind the walls of my dressing-room -again and I believe Erik's word. This room and my bedroom on the lake -are for me, exclusively, and not to be approached by him." -</P> - -<P> -"How can you have gone from this room into that dark passage, -Christine? Suppose we try to repeat your movements; shall we?" -</P> - -<P> -"It is dangerous, dear, for the glass might carry me off again; and, -instead of running away, I should be obliged to go to the end of the -secret passage to the lake and there call Erik." -</P> - -<P> -"Would he hear you?" -</P> - -<P> -"Erik will hear me wherever I call him. He told me so. He is a very -curious genius. You must not think, Raoul, that he is simply a man who -amuses himself by living underground. He does things that no other man -could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows." -</P> - -<P> -"Take care, Christine, you are making a ghost of him again!" -</P> - -<P> -"No, he is not a ghost; he is a man of Heaven and earth, that is all." -</P> - -<P> -"A man of Heaven and earth ... that is all! ... A nice way to speak of -him! ... And are you still resolved to run away from him?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, to-morrow." -</P> - -<P> -"To-morrow, you will have no resolve left!" -</P> - -<P> -"Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself; is that -understood?" -</P> - -<P> -"I shall be here at twelve to-morrow night; I shall keep my promise, -whatever happens. You say that, after listening to the performance, he -is to wait for you in the dining-room on the lake?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes." -</P> - -<P> -"And how are you to reach him, if you don't know how to go out by the -glass?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, by going straight to the edge of the lake." -</P> - -<P> -Christine opened a box, took out an enormous key and showed it to Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"What's that?" he asked. -</P> - -<P> -"The key of the gate to the underground passage in the Rue Scribe." -</P> - -<P> -"I understand, Christine. It leads straight to the lake. Give it to -me, Christine, will you?" -</P> - -<P> -"Never!" she said. "That would be treacherous!" -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly Christine changed color. A mortal pallor overspread her -features. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh heavens!" she cried. "Erik! Erik! Have pity on me!" -</P> - -<P> -"Hold your tongue!" said Raoul. "You told me he could hear you!" -</P> - -<P> -But the singer's attitude became more and more inexplicable. She wrung -her fingers, repeating, with a distraught air: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, Heaven! Oh, Heaven!" -</P> - -<P> -"But what is it? What is it?" Raoul implored. -</P> - -<P> -"The ring ... the gold ring he gave me." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, so Erik gave you that ring!" -</P> - -<P> -"You know he did, Raoul! But what you don't know is that, when he gave -it to me, he said, 'I give you back your liberty, Christine, on -condition that this ring is always on your finger. As long as you keep -it, you will be protected against all danger and Erik will remain your -friend. But woe to you if you ever part with it, for Erik will have -his revenge!' ... My dear, my dear, the ring is gone! ... Woe to us -both!" -</P> - -<P> -They both looked for the ring, but could not find it. Christine -refused to be pacified. -</P> - -<P> -"It was while I gave you that kiss, up above, under Apollo's lyre," she -said. "The ring must have slipped from my finger and dropped into the -street! We can never find it. And what misfortunes are in store for -us now! Oh, to run away!" -</P> - -<P> -"Let us run away at once," Raoul insisted, once more. -</P> - -<P> -She hesitated. He thought that she was going to say yes... Then her -bright pupils became dimmed and she said: -</P> - -<P> -"No! To-morrow!" -</P> - -<P> -And she left him hurriedly, still wringing and rubbing her fingers, as -though she hoped to bring the ring back like that. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul went home, greatly perturbed at all that he had heard. -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -[Illustration: They Sat Like that for a Moment in Silence] -</P> - -<P> -"If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug," he said, aloud, as -he went to bed, "she is lost. But I shall save her." -</P> - -<P> -He put out his lamp and felt a need to insult Erik in the dark. Thrice -over, he shouted: -</P> - -<P> -"Humbug! ... Humbug! ... Humbug!" -</P> - -<P> -But, suddenly, he raised himself on his elbow. A cold sweat poured -from his temples. Two eyes, like blazing coals, had appeared at the -foot of his bed. They stared at him fixedly, terribly, in the darkness -of the night. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul was no coward; and yet he trembled. He put out a groping, -hesitating hand toward the table by his bedside. He found the matches -and lit his candle. The eyes disappeared. -</P> - -<P> -Still uneasy in his mind, he thought to himself: -</P> - -<P> -"She told me that HIS eyes only showed in the dark. His eyes have -disappeared in the light, but HE may be there still." -</P> - -<P> -And he rose, hunted about, went round the room. He looked under his -bed, like a child. Then he thought himself absurd, got into bed again -and blew out the candle. The eyes reappeared. -</P> - -<P> -He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed. -Then he cried: -</P> - -<P> -"Is that you, Erik? Man, genius, or ghost, is it you?" -</P> - -<P> -He reflected: "If it's he, he's on the balcony!" -</P> - -<P> -Then he ran to the chest of drawers and groped for his revolver. He -opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and closed the -window again. He went back to bed, shivering, for the night was cold, -and put the revolver on the table within his reach. -</P> - -<P> -The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed. Were they between -the bed and the window-pane or behind the pane, that is to say, on the -balcony? That was what Raoul wanted to know. He also wanted to know -if those eyes belonged to a human being... He wanted to know -everything. Then, patiently, calmly, he seized his revolver and took -aim. He aimed a little above the two eyes. Surely, if they were eyes -and if above those two eyes there was a forehead and if Raoul was not -too clumsy ... -</P> - -<P> -The shot made a terrible din amid the silence of the slumbering house. -And, while footsteps came hurrying along the passages, Raoul sat up -with outstretched arm, ready to fire again, if need be. -</P> - -<P> -This time, the two eyes had disappeared. -</P> - -<P> -Servants appeared, carrying lights; Count Philippe, terribly anxious: -</P> - -<P> -"What is it?" -</P> - -<P> -"I think I have been dreaming," replied the young man. "I fired at two -stars that kept me from sleeping." -</P> - -<P> -"You're raving! Are you ill? For God's sake, tell me, Raoul: what -happened?" -</P> - -<P> -And the count seized hold of the revolver. -</P> - -<P> -"No, no, I'm not raving... Besides, we shall soon see ..." -</P> - -<P> -He got out of bed, put on a dressing-gown and slippers, took a light -from the hands of a servant and, opening the window, stepped out on the -balcony. -</P> - -<P> -The count saw that the window had been pierced by a bullet at a man's -height. Raoul was leaning over the balcony with his candle: "Aha!" he -said. "Blood! ... Blood! ... Here, there, more blood! ... That's a -good thing! A ghost who bleeds is less dangerous!" he grinned. -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul! Raoul! Raoul!" -</P> - -<P> -The count was shaking him as though he were trying to waken a -sleep-walker. -</P> - -<P> -"But, my dear brother, I'm not asleep!" Raoul protested impatiently. -"You can see the blood for yourself. I thought I had been dreaming and -firing at two stars. It was Erik's eyes ... and here is his blood! ... -After all, perhaps I was wrong to shoot; and Christine is quite capable -of never forgiving me ... All this would not have happened if I had -drawn the curtains before going to bed." -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul, have you suddenly gone mad? Wake up!" -</P> - -<P> -"What, still? You would do better to help me find Erik ... for, after -all, a ghost who bleeds can always be found." -</P> - -<P> -The count's valet said: -</P> - -<P> -"That is so, sir; there is blood on the balcony." -</P> - -<P> -The other man-servant brought a lamp, by the light of which they -examined the balcony carefully. The marks of blood followed the rail -till they reached a gutter-spout; then they went up the gutter-spout. -</P> - -<P> -"My dear fellow," said Count Philippe, "you have fired at a cat." -</P> - -<P> -"The misfortune is," said Raoul, with a grin, "that it's quite -possible. With Erik, you never know. Is it Erik? Is it the cat? Is -it the ghost? No, with Erik, you can't tell!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul went on making this strange sort of remarks which corresponded so -intimately and logically with the preoccupation of his brain and which, -at the same time, tended to persuade many people that his mind was -unhinged. The count himself was seized with this idea; and, later, the -examining magistrate, on receiving the report of the commissary of -police, came to the same conclusion. -</P> - -<P> -"Who is Erik?" asked the count, pressing his brother's hand. -</P> - -<P> -"He is my rival. And, if he's not dead, it's a pity." -</P> - -<P> -He dismissed the servants with a wave of the hand and the two Chagnys -were left alone. But the men were not out of earshot before the -count's valet heard Raoul say, distinctly and emphatically: -</P> - -<P> -"I shall carry off Christine Daae to-night." -</P> - -<P> -This phrase was afterward repeated to M. Faure, the -examining-magistrate. But no one ever knew exactly what passed between -the two brothers at this interview. The servants declared that this -was not their first quarrel. Their voices penetrated the wall; and it -was always an actress called Christine Daae that was in question. -</P> - -<P> -At breakfast—the early morning breakfast, which the count took in his -study—Philippe sent for his brother. Raoul arrived silent and gloomy. -The scene was a very short one. Philippe handed his brother a copy of -the Epoque and said: -</P> - -<P> -"Read that!" -</P> - -<P> -The viscount read: -</P> - -<P> -"The latest news in the Faubourg is that there is a promise of marriage -between Mlle. Christine Daae, the opera-singer, and M. le Vicomte Raoul -de Chagny. If the gossips are to be credited, Count Philippe has sworn -that, for the first time on record, the Chagnys shall not keep their -promise. But, as love is all-powerful, at the Opera as—and even more -than—elsewhere, we wonder how Count Philippe intends to prevent the -viscount, his brother, from leading the new Margarita to the altar. -The two brothers are said to adore each other; but the count is -curiously mistaken if he imagines that brotherly love will triumph over -love pure and simple." -</P> - -<P> -"You see, Raoul," said the count, "you are making us ridiculous! That -little girl has turned your head with her ghost-stories." -</P> - -<P> -The viscount had evidently repeated Christine's narrative to his -brother, during the night. All that he now said was: -</P> - -<P> -"Good-by, Philippe." -</P> - -<P> -"Have you quite made up your mind? You are going to-night? With her?" -</P> - -<P> -No reply. -</P> - -<P> -"Surely you will not do anything so foolish? I SHALL know how to -prevent you!" -</P> - -<P> -"Good-by, Philippe," said the viscount again and left the room. -</P> - -<P> -This scene was described to the examining-magistrate by the count -himself, who did not see Raoul again until that evening, at the Opera, -a few minutes before Christine's disappearance. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, in fact, devoted the whole day to his preparations for the -flight. The horses, the carriage, the coachman, the provisions, the -luggage, the money required for the journey, the road to be taken (he -had resolved not to go by train, so as to throw the ghost off the -scent): all this had to be settled and provided for; and it occupied -him until nine o'clock at night. -</P> - -<P> -At nine o'clock, a sort of traveling-barouche with the curtains of its -windows close-down, took its place in the rank on the Rotunda side. It -was drawn by two powerful horses driven by a coachman whose face was -almost concealed in the long folds of a muffler. In front of this -traveling-carriage were three broughams, belonging respectively to -Carlotta, who had suddenly returned to Paris, to Sorelli and, at the -head of the rank, to Comte Philippe de Chagny. No one left the -barouche. The coachman remained on his box, and the three other -coachmen remained on theirs. -</P> - -<P> -A shadow in a long black cloak and a soft black felt hat passed along -the pavement between the Rotunda and the carriages, examined the -barouche carefully, went up to the horses and the coachman and then -moved away without saying a word, The magistrate afterward believed -that this shadow was that of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny; but I do not -agree, seeing that that evening, as every evening, the Vicomte de -Chagny was wearing a tall hat, which hat, besides, was subsequently -found. I am more inclined to think that the shadow was that of the -ghost, who knew all about the whole affair, as the reader will soon -perceive. -</P> - -<P> -They were giving FAUST, as it happened, before a splendid house. The -Faubourg was magnificently represented; and the paragraph in that -morning's EPOQUE had already produced its effect, for all eyes were -turned to the box in which Count Philippe sat alone, apparently in a -very indifferent and careless frame of mind. The feminine element in -the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled; and the viscount's -absence gave rise to any amount of whispering behind the fans. -Christine Daae met with a rather cold reception. That special audience -could not forgive her for aiming so high. -</P> - -<P> -The singer noticed this unfavorable attitude of a portion of the house -and was confused by it. -</P> - -<P> -The regular frequenters of the Opera, who pretended to know the truth -about the viscount's love-story, exchanged significant smiles at -certain passages in Margarita's part; and they made a show of turning -and looking at Philippe de Chagny's box when Christine sang: -</P> - -<P CLASS="poem"> -"I wish I could but know who was he<BR> -That addressed me,<BR> -If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is."<BR> -</P> - -<P> -The count sat with his chin on his hand and seemed to pay no attention -to these manifestations. He kept his eyes fixed on the stage; but his -thoughts appeared to be far away. -</P> - -<P> -Christine lost her self-assurance more and more. She trembled. She -felt on the verge of a breakdown ... Carolus Fonta wondered if she was -ill, if she could keep the stage until the end of the Garden Act. In -the front of the house, people remembered the catastrophe that had -befallen Carlotta at the end of that act and the historic "co-ack" -which had momentarily interrupted her career in Paris. -</P> - -<P> -Just then, Carlotta made her entrance in a box facing the stage, a -sensational entrance. Poor Christine raised her eyes upon this fresh -subject of excitement. She recognized her rival. She thought she saw -a sneer on her lips. That saved her. She forgot everything, in order -to triumph once more. -</P> - -<P> -From that moment the prima donna sang with all her heart and soul. She -tried to surpass all that she had done till then; and she succeeded. -In the last act when she began the invocation to the angels, she made -all the members of the audience feel as though they too had wings. -</P> - -<P> -In the center of the amphitheater a man stood up and remained standing, -facing the singer. It was Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"Holy angel, in Heaven blessed ..." -</P> - -<P> -And Christine, her arms outstretched, her throat filled with music, the -glory of her hair falling over her bare shoulders, uttered the divine -cry: -</P> - -<P> -"My spirit longs with thee to rest!" -</P> - -<P> -It was at that moment that the stage was suddenly plunged in darkness. -It happened so quickly that the spectators hardly had time to utter a -sound of stupefaction, for the gas at once lit up the stage again. But -Christine Daae was no longer there! -</P> - -<P> -What had become of her? What was that miracle? All exchanged glances -without understanding, and the excitement at once reached its height. -Nor was the tension any less great on the stage itself. Men rushed -from the wings to the spot where Christine had been singing that very -instant. The performance was interrupted amid the greatest disorder. -</P> - -<P> -Where had Christine gone? What witchcraft had snatched her, away -before the eyes of thousands of enthusiastic onlookers and from the -arms of Carolus Fonta himself? It was as though the angels had really -carried her up "to rest." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, still standing up in the amphitheater, had uttered a cry. Count -Philippe had sprung to his feet in his box. People looked at the -stage, at the count, at Raoul, and wondered if this curious event was -connected in any way with the paragraph in that morning's paper. But -Raoul hurriedly left his seat, the count disappeared from his box and, -while the curtain was lowered, the subscribers rushed to the door that -led behind the scenes. The rest of the audience waited amid an -indescribable hubbub. Every one spoke at once. Every one tried to -suggest an explanation of the extraordinary incident. -</P> - -<P> -At last, the curtain rose slowly and Carolus Fonta stepped to the -conductor's desk and, in a sad and serious voice, said: -</P> - -<P> -"Ladies and gentlemen, an unprecedented event has taken place and -thrown us into a state of the greatest alarm. Our sister-artist, -Christine Daae, has disappeared before our eyes and nobody can tell us -how!" -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap14"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XIV The Singular Attitude of a Safety-Pin -</H3> - -<P> -Behind the curtain, there was an indescribable crowd. Artists, -scene-shifters, dancers, supers, choristers, subscribers were all -asking questions, shouting and hustling one another. -</P> - -<P> -"What became of her?" -</P> - -<P> -"She's run away." -</P> - -<P> -"With the Vicomte de Chagny, of course!" -</P> - -<P> -"No, with the count!" -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, here's Carlotta! Carlotta did the trick!" -</P> - -<P> -"No, it was the ghost!" And a few laughed, especially as a careful -examination of the trap-doors and boards had put the idea of an -accident out of the question. -</P> - -<P> -Amid this noisy throng, three men stood talking in a low voice and with -despairing gestures. They were Gabriel, the chorus-master; Mercier, -the acting-manager; and Remy, the secretary. They retired to a corner -of the lobby by which the stage communicates with the wide passage -leading to the foyer of the ballet. Here they stood and argued behind -some enormous "properties." -</P> - -<P> -"I knocked at the door," said Remy. "They did not answer. Perhaps -they are not in the office. In any case, it's impossible to find out, -for they took the keys with them." -</P> - -<P> -"They" were obviously the managers, who had given orders, during the -last entr'acte, that they were not to be disturbed on any pretext -whatever. They were not in to anybody. -</P> - -<P> -"All the same," exclaimed Gabriel, "a singer isn't run away with, from -the middle of the stage, every day!" -</P> - -<P> -"Did you shout that to them?" asked Mercier, impatiently. -</P> - -<P> -"I'll go back again," said Remy, and disappeared at a run. -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon the stage-manager arrived. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, M. Mercier, are you coming? What are you two doing here? -You're wanted, Mr. Acting-Manager." -</P> - -<P> -"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives," -declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when he -comes!" -</P> - -<P> -"And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." -</P> - -<P> -"Not before the commissary comes." -</P> - -<P> -"I've been down to the organ myself already." -</P> - -<P> -"Ah! And what did you see?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear—nobody!" -</P> - -<P> -"What do you want me to do down there for{sic}?" -</P> - -<P> -"You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his hands -through his rebellious hair. "You're right! But there might be some -one at the organ who could tell us how the stage came to be suddenly -darkened. Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found. Do you understand -that?" -</P> - -<P> -Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on the -stage of the Opera. -</P> - -<P> -"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback. "Well, -what about his assistants?" -</P> - -<P> -"There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, I tell -you! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that little -girl must have been carried off by somebody else: she didn't run away -by herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find out about -it ... And what are the managers doing all this time? ... I gave -orders that no one was to go down to the lights and I posted a fireman -in front of the gas-man's box beside the organ. Wasn't that right?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, yes, quite right, quite right. And now let's wait for the -commissary." -</P> - -<P> -The stage-manager walked away, shrugging his shoulders, fuming, -muttering insults at those milksops who remained quietly squatting in a -corner while the whole theater was topsyturvy{sic}. -</P> - -<P> -Gabriel and Mercier were not so quiet as all that. Only they had -received an order that paralyzed them. The managers were not to be -disturbed on any account. Remy had violated that order and met with no -success. -</P> - -<P> -At that moment he returned from his new expedition, wearing a curiously -startled air. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, have you seen them?" asked Mercier. -</P> - -<P> -"Moncharmin opened the door at last. His eyes were starting out of his -head. I thought he meant to strike me. I could not get a word in; and -what do you think he shouted at me? 'Have you a safety-pin?' 'No!' -'Well, then, clear out!' I tried to tell him that an unheard-of thing -had happened on the stage, but he roared, 'A safety-pin! Give me a -safety-pin at once!' A boy heard him—he was bellowing like a -bull—ran up with a safety-pin and gave it to him; whereupon Moncharmin -slammed the door in my face, and there you are!" -</P> - -<P> -"And couldn't you have said, 'Christine Daae.'" -</P> - -<P> -"I should like to have seen you in my place. He was foaming at the -mouth. He thought of nothing but his safety-pin. I believe, if they -hadn't brought him one on the spot, he would have fallen down in a fit! -... Oh, all this isn't natural; and our managers are going mad! ... -Besides, it can't go on like this! I'm not used to being treated in -that fashion!" -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly Gabriel whispered: -</P> - -<P> -"It's another trick of O. G.'s." -</P> - -<P> -Rimy gave a grin, Mercier a sigh and seemed about to speak ... but, -meeting Gabriel's eye, said nothing. -</P> - -<P> -However, Mercier felt his responsibility increased as the minutes -passed without the managers' appearing; and, at last, he could stand it -no longer. -</P> - -<P> -"Look here, I'll go and hunt them out myself!" -</P> - -<P> -Gabriel, turning very gloomy and serious, stopped him. -</P> - -<P> -"Be careful what you're doing, Mercier! If they're staying in their -office, it's probably because they have to! O. G. has more than one -trick in his bag!" -</P> - -<P> -But Mercier shook his head. -</P> - -<P> -"That's their lookout! I'm going! If people had listened to me, the -police would have known everything long ago!" -</P> - -<P> -And he went. -</P> - -<P> -"What's everything?" asked Remy. "What was there to tell the police? -Why don't you answer, Gabriel? ... Ah, so you know something! Well, -you would do better to tell me, too, if you don't want me to shout out -that you are all going mad! ... Yes, that's what you are: mad!" -</P> - -<P> -Gabriel put on a stupid look and pretended not to understand the -private secretary's unseemly outburst. -</P> - -<P> -"What 'something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know what -you mean." -</P> - -<P> -Remy began to lose his temper. -</P> - -<P> -"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics, -here, between the acts." -</P> - -<P> -"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed. -</P> - -<P> -"Then you're the only one! ... Do you think that I didn't see them? ... -And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, noticed -nothing? ... And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, has no eyes to -see with? ... Why, all the subscribers were pointing at our managers!" -</P> - -<P> -"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his most -innocent air. -</P> - -<P> -"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they were -doing! ... You were there! ... And you were watching them, you and -Mercier! ... And you were the only two who didn't laugh." -</P> - -<P> -"I don't understand!" -</P> - -<P> -Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, which -gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest him in -the least. Remy continued: -</P> - -<P> -"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY HAVE -ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM NOW?" -</P> - -<P> -"What? WON'T THEY HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?" -</P> - -<P> -"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!" -</P> - -<P> -"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM? -That is certainly odd!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK -BACKWARD!" -</P> - -<P> -"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought -that only crabs walked backward!" -</P> - -<P> -"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!" -</P> - -<P> -"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge. -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend of -the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer, -during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did M. -Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, 'Go away! Go away! Whatever you -do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have an infectious -disease?" -</P> - -<P> -"It's incredible!" -</P> - -<P> -"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard, -didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear him -exclaim, 'M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch M. le Directeur'?" -</P> - -<P> -"It's terrible! ... And what was Richard doing meanwhile?" -</P> - -<P> -"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, BOWED IN FRONT -OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, AND WITHDREW BACKWARD." -</P> - -<P> -"BACKWARD?" -</P> - -<P> -"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, he -described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED BACKWARD! ... And -they went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading to the managers' office: -BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! ... Well, if they are not mad, will you -explain what it means?" -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggested -Gabriel, without much conviction in his voice. -</P> - -<P> -The secretary was furious at this wretched joke, made at so dramatic a -moment. He knit his brows and contracted his lips. Then he put his -mouth to Gabriel's ear: -</P> - -<P> -"Don't be so sly, Gabriel. There are things going on for which you and -Mercier are partly responsible." -</P> - -<P> -"What do you mean?" asked Gabriel. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine Daae is not the only one who suddenly disappeared to-night." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, nonsense!" -</P> - -<P> -"There's no nonsense about it. Perhaps you can tell me why, when -Mother Giry came down to the foyer just now, Mercier took her by the -hand and hurried her away with him?" -</P> - -<P> -"Really?" said Gabriel, "I never saw it." -</P> - -<P> -"You did see it, Gabriel, for you went with Mercier and Mother Giry to -Mercier's office. Since then, you and Mercier have been seen, but no -one has seen Mother Giry." -</P> - -<P> -"Do you think we've eaten her?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, but you've locked her up in the office; and any one passing the -office can hear her yelling, 'Oh, the scoundrels! Oh, the scoundrels!'" -</P> - -<P> -At this point of this singular conversation, Mercier arrived, all out -of breath. -</P> - -<P> -"There!" he said, in a gloomy voice. "It's worse than ever! ... I -shouted, 'It's a serious matter! Open the door! It's I, Mercier.' I -heard footsteps. The door opened and Moncharmin appeared. He was very -pale. He said, 'What do you want?' I answered, 'Some one has run away -with Christine Daae.' What do you think he said? 'And a good job, -too!' And he shut the door, after putting this in my hand." -</P> - -<P> -Mercier opened his hand; Remy and Gabriel looked. -</P> - -<P> -"The safety-pin!" cried Remy. -</P> - -<P> -"Strange! Strange!" muttered Gabriel, who could not help shivering. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly a voice made them all three turn round. -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine Daae -is?" -</P> - -<P> -In spite of the seriousness of the circumstances, the absurdity of the -question would have made them roar with laughter, if they had not -caught sight of a face so sorrow-stricken that they were at once seized -with pity. It was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap15"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XV Christine! Christine! -</H3> - -<P> -Raoul's first thought, after Christine Daae's fantastic disappearance, -was to accuse Erik. He no longer doubted the almost supernatural -powers of the Angel of Music, in this domain of the Opera in which he -had set up his empire. And Raoul rushed on the stage, in a mad fit of -love and despair. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine!" he moaned, calling to her as he felt that she -must be calling to him from the depths of that dark pit to which the -monster had carried her. "Christine! Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -And he seemed to hear the girl's screams through the frail boards that -separated him from her. He bent forward, he listened, ... he wandered -over the stage like a madman. Ah, to descend, to descend into that pit -of darkness every entrance to which was closed to him, ... for the -stairs that led below the stage were forbidden to one and all that -night! -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine! ..." -</P> - -<P> -People pushed him aside, laughing. They made fun of him. They thought -the poor lover's brain was gone! -</P> - -<P> -By what mad road, through what passages of mystery and darkness known -to him alone had Erik dragged that pure-souled child to the awful -haunt, with the Louis-Philippe room, opening out on the lake? -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine! ... Why don't you answer? ... Are you alive? -..." -</P> - -<P> -Hideous thoughts flashed through Raoul's congested brain. Of course, -Erik must have discovered their secret, must have known that Christine -had played him false. What a vengeance would be his! -</P> - -<P> -And Raoul thought again of the yellow stars that had come, the night -before, and roamed over his balcony. Why had he not put them out for -good? There were some men's eyes that dilated in the darkness and -shone like stars or like cats' eyes. Certainly Albinos, who seemed to -have rabbits' eyes by day, had cats' eyes at night: everybody knew -that! ... Yes, yes, he had undoubtedly fired at Erik. Why had he not -killed him? The monster had fled up the gutter-spout like a cat or a -convict who—everybody knew that also—would scale the very skies, with -the help of a gutter-spout ... No doubt Erik was at that time -contemplating some decisive step against Raoul, but he had been wounded -and had escaped to turn against poor Christine instead. -</P> - -<P> -Such were the cruel thoughts that haunted Raoul as he ran to the -singer's dressing-room. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -Bitter tears scorched the boy's eyelids as he saw scattered over the -furniture the clothes which his beautiful bride was to have worn at the -hour of their flight. Oh, why had she refused to leave earlier? -</P> - -<P> -Why had she toyed with the threatening catastrophe? Why toyed with the -monster's heart? Why, in a final access of pity, had she insisted on -flinging, as a last sop to that demon's soul, her divine song: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -"Holy angel, in Heaven blessed,<BR> -My spirit longs with thee to rest!"<BR> -</P> - -<P> -Raoul, his throat filled with sobs, oaths and insults, fumbled -awkwardly at the great mirror that had opened one night, before his -eyes, to let Christine pass to the murky dwelling below. He pushed, -pressed, groped about, but the glass apparently obeyed no one but Erik -... Perhaps actions were not enough with a glass of the kind? Perhaps -he was expected to utter certain words? When he was a little boy, he -had heard that there were things that obeyed the spoken word! -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, Raoul remembered something about a gate opening into the Rue -Scribe, an underground passage running straight to the Rue Scribe from -the lake ... Yes, Christine had told him about that... And, when he -found that the key was no longer in the box, he nevertheless ran to the -Rue Scribe. Outside, in the street, he passed his trembling hands over -the huge stones, felt for outlets ... met with iron bars ... were those -they? ... Or these? ... Or could it be that air-hole? ... He plunged -his useless eyes through the bars ... How dark it was in there! ... He -listened ... All was silence! ... He went round the building ... and -came to bigger bars, immense gates! ... It was the entrance to the Cour -de l'Administration. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul rushed into the doorkeeper's lodge. -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon, madame, could you tell me where to find a gate or -door, made of bars, iron bars, opening into the Rue Scribe ... and -leading to the lake? ... You know the lake I mean? ... Yes, the -underground lake ... under the Opera." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, sir, I know there is a lake under the Opera, but I don't know -which door leads to it. I have never been there!" -</P> - -<P> -"And the Rue Scribe, madame, the Rue Scribe? Have you never been to -the Rue Scribe?" -</P> - -<P> -The woman laughed, screamed with laughter! Raoul darted away, roaring -with anger, ran up-stairs, four stairs at a time, down-stairs, rushed -through the whole of the business side of the opera-house, found -himself once more in the light of the stage. -</P> - -<P> -He stopped, with his heart thumping in his chest: suppose Christine -Daae had been found? He saw a group of men and asked: -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine Daae -is?" -</P> - -<P> -And somebody laughed. -</P> - -<P> -At the same moment the stage buzzed with a new sound and, amid a crowd -of men in evening-dress, all talking and gesticulating together, -appeared a man who seemed very calm and displayed a pleasant face, all -pink and chubby-cheeked, crowned with curly hair and lit up by a pair -of wonderfully serene blue eyes. Mercier, the acting-manager, called -the Vicomte de Chagny's attention to him and said: -</P> - -<P> -"This is the gentleman to whom you should put your question, monsieur. -Let me introduce Mifroid, the commissary of police." -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! Delighted to meet you, monsieur," said -the commissary. "Would you mind coming with me? ... And now where are -the managers? ... Where are the managers?" -</P> - -<P> -Mercier did not answer, and Remy, the secretary, volunteered the -information that the managers were locked up in their office and that -they knew nothing as yet of what had happened. -</P> - -<P> -"You don't mean to say so! Let us go up to the office!" -</P> - -<P> -And M. Mifroid, followed by an ever-increasing crowd, turned toward the -business side of the building. Mercier took advantage of the confusion -to slip a key into Gabriel's hand: -</P> - -<P> -"This is all going very badly," he whispered. "You had better let -Mother Giry out." -</P> - -<P> -And Gabriel moved away. -</P> - -<P> -They soon came to the managers' door. Mercier stormed in vain: the -door remained closed. -</P> - -<P> -"Open in the name of the law!" commanded M. Mifroid, in a loud and -rather anxious voice. -</P> - -<P> -At last the door was opened. All rushed in to the office, on the -commissary's heels. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul was the last to enter. As he was about to follow the rest into -the room, a hand was laid on his shoulder and he heard these words -spoken in his ear: -</P> - -<P> -"ERIK'S SECRETS CONCERN NO ONE BUT HIMSELF!" -</P> - -<P> -He turned around, with a stifled exclamation. The hand that was laid -on his shoulder was now placed on the lips of a person with an ebony -skin, with eyes of jade and with an astrakhan cap on his head: the -Persian! The stranger kept up the gesture that recommended discretion -and then, at the moment when the astonished viscount was about to ask -the reason of his mysterious intervention, bowed and disappeared. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap16"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XVI Mme. Giry's Astounding Revelations <BR> -as to Her Personal Relations with the Opera Ghost -</H3> - -<P> -Before following the commissary into the manager's office I must -describe certain extraordinary occurrences that took place in that -office which Remy and Mercier had vainly tried to enter and into which -MM. Richard and Moncharmin had locked themselves with an object which -the reader does not yet know, but which it is my duty, as an historian, -to reveal without further postponement. -</P> - -<P> -I have had occasion to say that the managers' mood had undergone a -disagreeable change for some time past and to convey the fact that this -change was due not only to the fall of the chandelier on the famous -night of the gala performance. -</P> - -<P> -The reader must know that the ghost had calmly been paid his first -twenty thousand francs. Oh, there had been wailing and gnashing of -teeth, indeed! And yet the thing had happened as simply as could be. -</P> - -<P> -One morning, the managers found on their table an envelope addressed to -"Monsieur O. G. (private)" and accompanied by a note from O. G. himself: -</P> - -<P> -The time has come to carry out the clause in the memorandum-book. -Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope, -seal it with your own seal and hand it to Mme. Giry, who will do what -is necessary. -</P> - -<P> -The managers did not hesitate; without wasting time in asking how these -confounded communications came to be delivered in an office which they -were careful to keep locked, they seized this opportunity of laying -hands, on the mysterious blackmailer. And, after telling the whole -story, under the promise of secrecy, to Gabriel and Mercier, they put -the twenty thousand francs into the envelope and without asking for -explanations, handed it to Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her -functions. The box-keeper displayed no astonishment. I need hardly -say that she was well watched. She went straight to the ghost's box -and placed the precious envelope on the little shelf attached to the -ledge. The two managers, as well as Gabriel and Mercier, were hidden -in such a way that they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second -during the performance and even afterward, for, as the envelope had not -moved, those who watched it did not move either; and Mme. Giry went -away while the managers, Gabriel and Mercier were still there. At -last, they became tired of waiting and opened the envelope, after -ascertaining that the seals had not been broken. -</P> - -<P> -At first sight, Richard and Moncharmin thought that the notes were -still there; but soon they perceived that they were not the same. The -twenty real notes were gone and had been replaced by twenty notes, of -the "Bank of St. Farce"![1] -</P> - -<P> -The managers' rage and fright were unmistakable. Moncharmin wanted to -send for the commissary of police, but Richard objected. He no doubt -had a plan, for he said: -</P> - -<P> -"Don't let us make ourselves ridiculous! All Paris would laugh at us. -O. G. has won the first game: we will win the second." -</P> - -<P> -He was thinking of the next month's allowance. -</P> - -<P> -Nevertheless, they had been so absolutely tricked that they were bound -to suffer a certain dejection. And, upon my word, it was not difficult -to understand. We must not forget that the managers had an idea at the -back of their minds, all the time, that this strange incident might be -an unpleasant practical joke on the part of their predecessors and that -it would not do to divulge it prematurely. On the other hand, -Moncharmin was sometimes troubled with a suspicion of Richard himself, -who occasionally took fanciful whims into his head. And so they were -content to await events, while keeping an eye on Mother Giry. Richard -would not have her spoken to. -</P> - -<P> -"If she is a confederate," he said, "the notes are gone long ago. But, -in my opinion, she is merely an idiot." -</P> - -<P> -"She's not the only idiot in this business," said Moncharmin pensively. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, who could have thought it?" moaned Richard. "But don't be -afraid ... next time, I shall have taken my precautions." -</P> - -<P> -The next time fell on the same day that beheld the disappearance of -Christine Daae. In the morning, a note from the ghost reminded them -that the money was due. It read: -</P> - -<P> -Do just as you did last time. It went very well. Put the twenty -thousand in the envelope and hand it to our excellent Mme. Giry. -</P> - -<P> -And the note was accompanied by the usual envelope. They had only to -insert the notes. -</P> - -<P> -This was done about half an hour before the curtain rose on the first -act of Faust. Richard showed the envelope to Moncharmin. Then he -counted the twenty thousand-franc notes in front of him and put the -notes into the envelope, but without closing it. -</P> - -<P> -"And now," he said, "let's have Mother Giry in." -</P> - -<P> -The old woman was sent for. She entered with a sweeping courtesy. She -still wore her black taffeta dress, the color of which was rapidly -turning to rust and lilac, to say nothing of the dingy bonnet. She -seemed in a good temper. She at once said: -</P> - -<P> -"Good evening, gentlemen! It's for the envelope, I suppose?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, Mme. Giry," said Richard, most amiably. "For the envelope ... -and something else besides." -</P> - -<P> -"At your service, M. Richard, at your service. And what is the -something else, please?" -</P> - -<P> -"First of all, Mme. Giry, I have a little question to put to you." -</P> - -<P> -"By all means, M. Richard: Mme. Giry is here to answer you." -</P> - -<P> -"Are you still on good terms with the ghost?" -</P> - -<P> -"Couldn't be better, sir; couldn't be better." -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, we are delighted ... Look here, Mme. Giry," said Richard, in the -tone of making an important confidence. "We may just as well tell you, -among ourselves ... you're no fool!" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, sir," exclaimed the box-keeper, stopping the pleasant nodding of -the black feathers in her dingy bonnet, "I assure you no one has ever -doubted that!" -</P> - -<P> -"We are quite agreed and we shall soon understand one another. The -story of the ghost is all humbug, isn't it? ... Well, still between -ourselves, ... it has lasted long enough." -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry looked at the managers as though they were talking Chinese. -She walked up to Richard's table and asked, rather anxiously: -</P> - -<P> -"What do you mean? I don't understand." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, you, understand quite well. In any case, you've got to -understand... And, first of all, tell us his name." -</P> - -<P> -"Whose name?" -</P> - -<P> -"The name of the man whose accomplice you are, Mme. Giry!" -</P> - -<P> -"I am the ghost's accomplice? I? ... His accomplice in what, pray?" -</P> - -<P> -"You do all he wants." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh! He's not very troublesome, you know." -</P> - -<P> -"And does he still tip you?" -</P> - -<P> -"I mustn't complain." -</P> - -<P> -"How much does he give you for bringing him that envelope?" -</P> - -<P> -"Ten francs." -</P> - -<P> -"You poor thing! That's not much, is it? -</P> - -<P> -"Why?" -</P> - -<P> -"I'll tell you that presently, Mme. Giry. Just now we should like to -know for what extraordinary reason you have given yourself body and -soul, to this ghost ... Mme. Giry's friendship and devotion are not to -be bought for five francs or ten francs." -</P> - -<P> -"That's true enough ... And I can tell you the reason, sir. There's -no disgrace about it... on the contrary." -</P> - -<P> -"We're quite sure of that, Mme. Giry!" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, it's like this ... only the ghost doesn't like me to talk about -his business." -</P> - -<P> -"Indeed?" sneered Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"But this is a matter that concerns myself alone ... Well, it was in -Box Five one evening, I found a letter addressed to myself, a sort of -note written in red ink. I needn't read the letter to you sir; I know -it by heart, and I shall never forget it if I live to be a hundred!" -</P> - -<P> -And Mme. Giry, drawing herself up, recited the letter with touching -eloquence: -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -MADAM: -</P> - -<P> -1825. Mlle. Menetrier, leader of the ballet, became Marquise de Cussy. -</P> - -<P> -1832. Mlle. Marie Taglioni, a dancer, became Comtesse Gilbert des -Voisins. -</P> - -<P> -1846. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain. -</P> - -<P> -1847. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King Louis -of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld. -</P> - -<P> -1848. Mlle. Maria, a dancer, became Baronne d'Herneville. -</P> - -<P> -1870. Theresa Hessier, a dancer, married Dom Fernando, brother to the -King of Portugal. -</P> - -<P> -Richard and Moncharmin listened to the old woman, who, as she proceeded -with the enumeration of these glorious nuptials, swelled out, took -courage and, at last, in a voice bursting with pride, flung out the -last sentence of the prophetic letter: -</P> - -<P> -1885. Meg Giry, Empress! -</P> - -<P> -Exhausted by this supreme effort, the box-keeper fell into a chair, -saying: -</P> - -<P> -"Gentlemen, the letter was signed, 'Opera Ghost.' I had heard much of -the ghost, but only half believed in him. From the day when he -declared that my little Meg, the flesh of my flesh, the fruit of my -womb, would be empress, I believed in him altogether." -</P> - -<P> -And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry's -excited features to understand what could be got out of that fine -intellect with the two words "ghost" and "empress." -</P> - -<P> -But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? That was the -question. -</P> - -<P> -"You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he -says?" asked Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes. To begin with, I owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted -to be the leader of a row. I said to the ghost, 'If she is to be -empress in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at -once.' He said, 'Look upon it as done.' And he had only a word to say -to M. Poligny and the thing was done." -</P> - -<P> -"So you see that M. Poligny saw him!" -</P> - -<P> -"No, not any more than I did; but he heard him. The ghost said a word -in his ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, looking so -dreadfully pale." -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin heaved a sigh. "What a business!" he groaned. -</P> - -<P> -"Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between the -ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny to do -M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." -</P> - -<P> -"You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of the -ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! ... -But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. "The only -person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry... Mme. Giry, do -you know what is in this envelope?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, of course not," she said. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, look." -</P> - -<P> -Mine. Giry looked into the envelope with a lackluster eye, which soon -recovered its brilliancy. -</P> - -<P> -"Thousand-franc notes!" she cried. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, Mme. Giry, thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" -</P> - -<P> -"I, sir? I? ... I swear ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Don't swear, Mme. Giry! ... And now I will tell you the second reason -why I sent for you. Mme. Giry, I am going to have you arrested." -</P> - -<P> -The two black feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected the -attitude of two notes of interrogation, changed into two notes of -exclamation; as for the bonnet itself, it swayed in menace on the old -lady's tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, protest and dismay -were furthermore displayed by little Meg's mother in a sort of -extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, half slide, that -brought her right under the nose of M. Richard, who could not help -pushing back his chair. -</P> - -<P> -"HAVE ME ARRESTED!" -</P> - -<P> -The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth that -were left to it into Richard's face. -</P> - -<P> -M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. His -threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out the keeper of -Box Five to the absent magistrates. -</P> - -<P> -"I am going to have you arrested, Mme. Giry, as a thief!" -</P> - -<P> -"Say that again!" -</P> - -<P> -And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear, -before Mr. Manager Moncharmin had time to intervene. But it was not -the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on the managerial -ear, but the envelope itself, the cause of all the trouble, the magic -envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, which -escaped in a fantastic whirl of giant butterflies. -</P> - -<P> -The two managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both go -on their knees, feverishly, picking up and hurriedly examining the -precious scraps of paper. -</P> - -<P> -"Are they still genuine, Moncharmin?" -</P> - -<P> -"Are they still genuine, Richard?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, they are still genuine!" -</P> - -<P> -Above their heads, Mme. Giry's three teeth were clashing in a noisy -contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could be clearly -distinguished was this LEIT-MOTIF: -</P> - -<P> -"I, a thief! ... I, a thief, I?" -</P> - -<P> -She choked with rage. She shouted: -</P> - -<P> -"I never heard of such a thing!" -</P> - -<P> -And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. -</P> - -<P> -"In any case," she yelped, "you, M. Richard, ought to know better than -I where the twenty thousand francs went to!" -</P> - -<P> -"I?" asked Richard, astounded. "And how should I know?" -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once insisted that the -good lady should explain herself. -</P> - -<P> -"What does this mean, Mme. Giry?" he asked. "And why do you say that -M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand -francs went to?" -</P> - -<P> -As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmin's eyes, -he took Mme. Giry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice -growling and rolling like thunder, he roared: -</P> - -<P> -"Why should I know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs -went to? Why? Answer me!" -</P> - -<P> -"Because they went into your pocket!" gasped the old woman, looking at -him as if he were the devil incarnate. -</P> - -<P> -Richard would have rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not stayed -his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently: -</P> - -<P> -"How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thousand -francs in his pocket?" -</P> - -<P> -"I never said that," declared Mme. Giry, "seeing that it was myself who -put the twenty-thousand francs into M. Richard's pocket." And she -added, under her voice, "There! It's out! ... And may the ghost -forgive me!" -</P> - -<P> -Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmin authoritatively ordered -him to be silent. -</P> - -<P> -"Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me question -her." And he added: "It is really astonishing that you should take up -such a tone! ... We are on the verge of clearing up the whole mystery. -And you're in a rage! ... You're wrong to behave like that... I'm -enjoying myself immensely." -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face -beaming with faith in her own innocence. -</P> - -<P> -"You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope which I -put into M. Richard's pocket; but I tell you again that I knew nothing -about it ... Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!" -</P> - -<P> -"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which -Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put -twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! I am -very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us -knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!" -</P> - -<P> -Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, if Moncharmin -had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. He resumed his -questions: -</P> - -<P> -"What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? It was not -the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box Five before -our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained the twenty-thousand -francs." -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave me was the -one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," explained Mme. -Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was another envelope, -just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand and which I hid up my -sleeve." -</P> - -<P> -So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared -and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs. -The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it was -fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. They -opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like those -which had so much astounded them the month before. -</P> - -<P> -"How simple!" said Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes -fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her. -</P> - -<P> -"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to -substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost who -told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, it was the ghost." -</P> - -<P> -"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? Here -is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing." -</P> - -<P> -"As you please, gentlemen." -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside it and made -for the door. She was on the point of going out when the two managers -rushed at her: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be 'done' a second time! Once -bitten, twice shy!" -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse, -"you told me to act as though you knew nothing ... Well, if you knew -nothing, I should go away with your envelope!" -</P> - -<P> -"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, whom -Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on Mme. -Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmin was -prepared to go to any length to discover the truth. -</P> - -<P> -"I am to slip it into your pocket when you least expect it, sir. You -know that I always take a little turn behind the scenes, in the course -of the evening, and I often go with my daughter to the ballet-foyer, -which I am entitled to do, as her mother; I bring her her shoes, when -the ballet is about to begin ... in fact, I come and go as I please ... -The subscribers come and go too... So do you, sir ... There are lots -of people about ... I go behind you and slip the envelope into the -tail-pocket of your dress-coat ... There's no witchcraft about that!" -</P> - -<P> -"No witchcraft!" growled Richard, rolling his eyes like Jupiter Tonans. -"No witchcraft! Why, I've just caught you in a lie, you old witch!" -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry bristled, with her three teeth sticking out of her mouth. -</P> - -<P> -"And why, may I ask?" -</P> - -<P> -"Because I spent that evening watching Box Five and the sham envelope -which you put there. I did not go to the ballet-foyer for a second." -</P> - -<P> -"No, sir, and I did not give you the envelope that evening, but at the -next performance ... on the evening when the under-secretary of state -for fine arts ..." -</P> - -<P> -At these words, M. Richard suddenly interrupted Mme. Giry: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, that's true, I remember now! The under-secretary went behind the -scenes. He asked for me. I went down to the ballet-foyer for a -moment. I was on the foyer steps ... The under-secretary and his -chief clerk were in the foyer itself. I suddenly turned around ... you -had passed behind me, Mme. Giry ... You seemed to push against me ... -Oh, I can see you still, I can see you still!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, that's it, sir, that's it. I had just finished my little -business. That pocket of yours, sir, is very handy!" -</P> - -<P> -And Mme. Giry once more suited the action to the word, She passed -behind M. Richard and, so nimbly that Moncharmin himself was impressed -by it, slipped the envelope into the pocket of one of the tails of M. -Richard's dress-coat. -</P> - -<P> -"Of course!" exclaimed Richard, looking a little pale. "It's very -clever of O. G. The problem which he had to solve was this: how to do -away with any dangerous intermediary between the man who gives the -twenty-thousand francs and the man who receives it. And by far the -best thing he could hit upon was to come and take the money from my -pocket without my noticing it, as I myself did not know that it was -there. It's wonderful!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, wonderful, no doubt!" Moncharmin agreed. "Only, you forget, -Richard, that I provided ten-thousand francs of the twenty and that -nobody put anything in my pocket!" -</P> - -<BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[1] Flash notes drawn on the "Bank of St. Farce" in France correspond -with those drawn on the "Bank of Engraving" in England.—Translator's -Note. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap17"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XVII The Safety-Pin Again -</H3> - -<P> -Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which he -now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, -at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all -Moncharmin's wishes, with the object of helping him to discover the -miscreant who was victimizing them. -</P> - -<P> -This brings us to the interval after the Garden Act, with the strange -conduct observed by M. Remy and those curious lapses from the dignity -that might be expected of the managers. It was arranged between -Richard and Moncharmin, first, that Richard should repeat the exact -movements which he had made on the night of the disappearance of the -first twenty-thousand francs; and, second, that Moncharmin should not -for an instant lose sight of Richard's coat-tail pocket, into which -Mme. Giry was to slip the twenty-thousand francs. -</P> - -<P> -M. Richard went and placed himself at the identical spot where he had -stood when he bowed to the under-secretary for fine arts. M. -Moncharmin took up his position a few steps behind him. -</P> - -<P> -Mme. Giry passed, rubbed up against M. Richard, got rid of her -twenty-thousand francs in the manager's coat-tail pocket and -disappeared ... Or rather she was conjured away. In accordance with -the instructions received from Moncharmin a few minutes earlier, -Mercier took the good lady to the acting-manager's office and turned -the key on her, thus making it impossible for her to communicate with -her ghost. -</P> - -<P> -Meanwhile, M. Richard was bending and bowing and scraping and walking -backward, just as if he had that high and mighty minister, the -under-secretary for fine arts, before him. Only, though these marks of -politeness would have created no astonishment if the under-secretary of -state had really been in front of M. Richard, they caused an easily -comprehensible amazement to the spectators of this very natural but -quite inexplicable scene when M. Richard had no body in front of him. -</P> - -<P> -M. Richard bowed ... to nobody; bent his back ... before nobody; and -walked backward ... before nobody ... And, a few steps behind him, M. -Moncharmin did the same thing that he was doing in addition to pushing -away M. Remy and begging M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, and the -manager of the Credit Central "not to touch M. le Directeur." -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin, who had his own ideas, did not want Richard to come to him -presently, when the twenty-thousand francs were gone, and say: -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps it was the ambassador ... or the manager of the Credit Central -... or Remy." -</P> - -<P> -The more so as, at the time of the first scene, as Richard himself -admitted, Richard had met nobody in that part of the theater after Mme. -Giry had brushed up against him... -</P> - -<P> -Having begun by walking backward in order to bow, Richard continued to -do so from prudence, until he reached the passage leading to the -offices of the management. In this way, he was constantly watched by -Moncharmin from behind and himself kept an eye on any one approaching -from the front. Once more, this novel method of walking behind the -scenes, adopted by the managers of our National Academy of Music, -attracted attention; but the managers themselves thought of nothing but -their twenty-thousand francs. -</P> - -<P> -On reaching the half-dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin, in a low -voice: -</P> - -<P> -"I am sure that nobody has touched me ... You had now better keep at -some distance from me and watch me till I come to door of the office: -it is better not to arouse suspicion and we can see anything that -happens." -</P> - -<P> -But Moncharmin replied. "No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I'll -walk immediately behind you! I won't leave you by a step!" -</P> - -<P> -"But, in that case," exclaimed Richard, "they will never steal our -twenty-thousand francs!" -</P> - -<P> -"I should hope not, indeed!" declared Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"Then what we are doing is absurd!" -</P> - -<P> -"We are doing exactly what we did last time ... Last time, I joined -you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind you down -this passage." -</P> - -<P> -"That's true!" sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively obeying -Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -Two minutes later, the joint managers locked themselves into their -office. Moncharmin himself put the key in his pocket: -</P> - -<P> -"We remained locked up like this, last time," he said, "until you left -the Opera to go home." -</P> - -<P> -"That's so. No one came and disturbed us, I suppose?" -</P> - -<P> -"No one." -</P> - -<P> -"Then," said Richard, who was trying to collect his memory, "then I -must certainly have been robbed on my way home from the Opera." -</P> - -<P> -"No," said Moncharmin in a drier tone than ever, "no, that's -impossible. For I dropped you in my cab. The twenty-thousand francs -disappeared at your place: there's not a shadow of a doubt about that." -</P> - -<P> -"It's incredible!" protested Richard. "I am sure of my servants ... -and if one of them had done it, he would have disappeared since." -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin shrugged his shoulders, as though to say that he did not -wish to enter into details, and Richard began to think that Moncharmin -was treating him in a very insupportable fashion. -</P> - -<P> -"Moncharmin, I've had enough of this!" -</P> - -<P> -"Richard, I've had too much of it!" -</P> - -<P> -"Do you dare to suspect me?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, of a silly joke." -</P> - -<P> -"One doesn't joke with twenty-thousand francs." -</P> - -<P> -"That's what I think," declared Moncharmin, unfolding a newspaper and -ostentatiously studying its contents. -</P> - -<P> -"What are you doing?" asked Richard. "Are you going to read the paper -next?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, Richard, until I take you home." -</P> - -<P> -"Like last time?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, like last time." -</P> - -<P> -Richard snatched the paper from Moncharmin's hands. Moncharmin stood -up, more irritated than ever, and found himself faced by an exasperated -Richard, who, crossing his arms on his chest, said: -</P> - -<P> -"Look here, I'm thinking of this, I'M THINKING OF WHAT I MIGHT THINK -if, like last time, after my spending the evening alone with you, you -brought me home and if, at the moment of parting, I perceived that -twenty-thousand francs had disappeared from my coat-pocket ... like -last time." -</P> - -<P> -"And what might you think?" asked Moncharmin, crimson with rage. -</P> - -<P> -"I might think that, as you hadn't left me by a foot's breadth and as, -by your own wish, you were the only one to approach me, like last time, -I might think that, if that twenty-thousand francs was no longer in my -pocket, it stood a very good chance of being in yours!" -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin leaped up at the suggestion. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh!" he shouted. "A safety-pin!" -</P> - -<P> -"What do you want a safety-pin for?" -</P> - -<P> -"To fasten you up with! ... A safety-pin! ... A safety-pin!" -</P> - -<P> -"You want to fasten me with a safety-pin?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, to fasten you to the twenty-thousand francs! Then, whether it's -here, or on the drive from here to your place, or at your place, you -will feel the hand that pulls at your pocket and you will see if it's -mine! Oh, so you're suspecting me now, are you? A safety-pin!" -</P> - -<P> -And that was the moment when Moncharmin opened the door on the passage -and shouted: -</P> - -<P> -"A safety-pin! ... somebody give me a safety-pin!" -</P> - -<P> -And we also know how, at the same moment, Remy, who had no safety-pin, -was received by Moncharmin, while a boy procured the pin so eagerly -longed for. And what happened was this: Moncharmin first locked the -door again. Then he knelt down behind Richard's back. -</P> - -<P> -"I hope," he said, "that the notes are still there?" -</P> - -<P> -"So do I," said Richard. -</P> - -<P> -"The real ones?" asked Moncharmin, resolved not to be "had" this time. -</P> - -<P> -"Look for yourself," said Richard. "I refuse to touch them." -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin took the envelope from Richard's pocket and drew out the -bank-notes with a trembling hand, for, this time, in order frequently -to make sure of the presence of the notes, he had not sealed the -envelope nor even fastened it. He felt reassured on finding that they -were all there and quite genuine. He put them back in the tail-pocket -and pinned them with great care. Then he sat down behind Richard's -coat-tails and kept his eyes fixed on them, while Richard, sitting at -his writing-table, did not stir. -</P> - -<P> -"A little patience, Richard," said Moncharmin. "We have only a few -minutes to wait ... The clock will soon strike twelve. Last time, we -left at the last stroke of twelve." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, I shall have all the patience necessary!" -</P> - -<P> -The time passed, slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling. Richard tried to -laugh. -</P> - -<P> -"I shall end by believing in the omnipotence of the ghost," he said. -"Just now, don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, -alarming in the atmosphere of this room?" -</P> - -<P> -"You're quite right," said Moncharmin, who was really impressed. -</P> - -<P> -"The ghost!" continued Richard, in a low voice, as though fearing lest -he should be overheard by invisible ears. "The ghost! Suppose, all -the same, it were a ghost who puts the magic envelopes on the table ... -who talks in Box Five ... who killed Joseph Buquet ... who unhooked -the chandelier ... and who robs us! For, after all, after all, after -all, there is no one here except you and me, and, if the notes -disappear and neither you nor I have anything to do with it, well, we -shall have to believe in the ghost ... in the ghost." -</P> - -<P> -At that moment, the clock on the mantlepiece gave its warning click and -the first stroke of twelve struck. -</P> - -<P> -The two managers shuddered. The perspiration streamed from their -foreheads. The twelfth stroke sounded strangely in their ears. -</P> - -<P> -When the clock stopped, they gave a sigh and rose from their chairs. -</P> - -<P> -"I think we can go now," said Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -"I think so," Richard a agreed. -</P> - -<P> -"Before we go, do you mind if I look in your pocket?" -</P> - -<P> -"But, of course, Moncharmin, YOU MUST! ... Well?" he asked, as -Moncharmin was feeling at the pocket. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, I can feel the pin." -</P> - -<P> -"Of course, as you said, we can't be robbed without noticing it." -</P> - -<P> -But Moncharmin, whose hands were still fumbling, bellowed: -</P> - -<P> -"I can feel the pin, but I can't feel the notes!" -</P> - -<P> -"Come, no joking, Moncharmin! ... This isn't the time for it." -</P> - -<P> -"Well, feel for yourself." -</P> - -<P> -Richard tore off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket inside -out. THE POCKET WAS EMPTY. And the curious thing was that the pin -remained, stuck in the same place. -</P> - -<P> -Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt -about the witchcraft. -</P> - -<P> -"The ghost!" muttered Moncharmin. -</P> - -<P> -But Richard suddenly sprang upon his partner. -</P> - -<P> -"No one but you has touched my pocket! Give me back my twenty-thousand -francs! ... Give me back my twenty-thousand francs! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"On my soul," sighed Moncharmin, who was ready to swoon, "on my soul, I -swear that I haven't got it!" -</P> - -<P> -Then somebody knocked at the door. Moncharmin opened it automatically, -seemed hardly to recognize Mercier, his business-manager, exchanged a -few words with him, without knowing what he was saying and, with an -unconscious movement, put the safety-pin, for which he had no further -use, into the hands of his bewildered subordinate ... -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap18"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XVIII The Commissary, The Viscount and the Persian -</H3> - -<P> -The first words of the commissary of police, on entering the managers' -office, were to ask after the missing prima donna. -</P> - -<P> -"Is Christine Daae here?" -</P> - -<P> -"Christine Daae here?" echoed Richard. "No. Why?" -</P> - -<P> -As for Moncharmin, he had not the strength left to utter a word. -</P> - -<P> -Richard repeated, for the commissary and the compact crowd which had -followed him into the office observed an impressive silence. -</P> - -<P> -"Why do you ask if Christine Daae is here, M. LE COMMISSAIRE?" -</P> - -<P> -"Because she has to be found," declared the commissary of police -solemnly. -</P> - -<P> -"What do you mean, she has to be found? Has she disappeared?" -</P> - -<P> -"In the middle of the performance!" -</P> - -<P> -"In the middle of the performance? This is extraordinary!" -</P> - -<P> -"Isn't it? And what is quite as extraordinary is that you should first -learn it from me!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes," said Richard, taking his head in his hands and muttering. "What -is this new business? Oh, it's enough to make a man send in his -resignation!" -</P> - -<P> -And he pulled a few hairs out of his mustache without even knowing what -he was doing. -</P> - -<P> -"So she ... so she disappeared in the middle of the performance?" he -repeated. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act, at the moment when she was -invoking the aid of the angels; but I doubt if she was carried off by -an angel." -</P> - -<P> -"And I am sure that she was!" -</P> - -<P> -Everybody looked round. A young man, pale and trembling with -excitement, repeated: -</P> - -<P> -"I am sure of it!" -</P> - -<P> -"Sure of what?" asked Mifroid. -</P> - -<P> -"That Christine Daae was carried off by an angel, M. LE COMMISSAIRE and -I can tell you his name." -</P> - -<P> -"Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae was -carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you where he -lives ... when we are alone." -</P> - -<P> -"You are right, monsieur." -</P> - -<P> -And the commissary of police, inviting Raoul to take a chair, cleared -the room of all the rest, excepting the managers. -</P> - -<P> -Then Raoul spoke: -</P> - -<P> -"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera and -he is the Angel of Music!" -</P> - -<P> -"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious! ... The Angel of -Music!" And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, "Have you an -Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?" -</P> - -<P> -Richard and Moncharmin shook their heads, without even speaking. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera -ghost. Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the -Angel of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik." -</P> - -<P> -M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively. -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun of -the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?" -</P> - -<P> -"I say that these gentlemen have heard of him." -</P> - -<P> -"Gentlemen, it appears that you know the Opera ghost?" -</P> - -<P> -Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand. -</P> - -<P> -"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did, -for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!" -</P> - -<P> -And Richard turned a terrible look on Moncharmin, which seemed to say: -</P> - -<P> -"Give me back the twenty-thousand francs, or I'll tell the whole story." -</P> - -<P> -Moncharmin understood what he meant, for, with a distracted gesture, he -said: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, tell everything and have done with it!" -</P> - -<P> -As for Mifroid, he looked at the managers and at Raoul by turns and -wondered whether he had strayed into a lunatic asylum. He passed his -hand through his hair. -</P> - -<P> -"A ghost," he said, "who, on the same evening, carries off an -opera-singer and steals twenty-thousand francs is a ghost who must have -his hands very full! If you don't mind, we will take the questions in -order. The singer first, the twenty-thousand francs after. Come, M. -de Chagny, let us try to talk seriously. You believe that Mlle. -Christine Daae has been carried off by an individual called Erik. Do -you know this person? Have you seen him?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes." -</P> - -<P> -"Where?" -</P> - -<P> -"In a church yard." -</P> - -<P> -M. Mifroid gave a start, began to scrutinize Raoul again and said: -</P> - -<P> -"Of course! ... That's where ghosts usually hang out! ... And what were -you doing in that churchyard?" -</P> - -<P> -"Monsieur," said Raoul, "I can quite understand how absurd my replies -must seem to you. But I beg you to believe that I am in full -possession of my faculties. The safety of the person dearest to me in -the world is at stake. I should like to convince you in a few words, -for time is pressing and every minute is valuable. Unfortunately, if I -do not tell you the strangest story that ever was from the beginning, -you will not believe me. I will tell you all I know about the Opera -ghost, M. Commissary. Alas, I do not know much! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Never mind, go on, go on!" exclaimed Richard and Moncharmin, suddenly -greatly interested. -</P> - -<P> -Unfortunately for their hopes of learning some detail that could put -them on the track of their hoaxer, they were soon compelled to accept -the fact that M. Raoul de Chagny had completely lost his head. All -that story about Perros-Guirec, death's heads and enchanted violins, -could only have taken birth in the disordered brain of a youth mad with -love. It was evident, also, that Mr. Commissary Mifroid shared their -view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut short the incoherent -narrative if circumstances had not taken it upon themselves to -interrupt it. -</P> - -<P> -The door opened and a man entered, curiously dressed in an enormous -frock-coat and a tall hat, at once shabby and shiny, that came down to -his ears. He went up to the commissary and spoke to him in a whisper. -It was doubtless a detective come to deliver an important communication. -</P> - -<P> -During this conversation, M. Mifroid did not take his eyes off Raoul. -At last, addressing him, he said: -</P> - -<P> -"Monsieur, we have talked enough about the ghost. We will now talk -about yourself a little, if you have no objection: you were to carry -off Mlle. Christine Daae to-night?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." -</P> - -<P> -"After the performance?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." -</P> - -<P> -"All your arrangements were made?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." -</P> - -<P> -"The carriage that brought you was to take you both away... There were -fresh horses in readiness at every stage ..." -</P> - -<P> -"That is true, M. le Commissaire." -</P> - -<P> -"And nevertheless your carriage is still outside the Rotunda awaiting -your orders, is it not?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." -</P> - -<P> -"Did you know that there were three other carriages there, in addition -to yours?" -</P> - -<P> -"I did not pay the least attention." -</P> - -<P> -"They were the carriages of Mlle. Sorelli, which could not find room in -the Cour de l'Administration; of Carlotta; and of your brother, M. le -Comte de Chagny..." -</P> - -<P> -"Very likely..." -</P> - -<P> -"What is certain is that, though your carriage and Sorelli's and -Carlotta's are still there, by the Rotunda pavement, M. le Comte de -Chagny's carriage is gone." -</P> - -<P> -"This has nothing to say to ..." -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon. Was not M. le Comte opposed to your marriage with -Mlle. Daae?" -</P> - -<P> -"That is a matter that only concerns the family." -</P> - -<P> -"You have answered my question: he was opposed to it ... and that was -why you were carrying Christine Daae out of your brother's reach... -Well, M. de Chagny, allow me to inform you that your brother has been -smarter than you! It is he who has carried off Christine Daae!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, impossible!" moaned Raoul, pressing his hand to his heart. "Are -you sure?" -</P> - -<P> -"Immediately after the artist's disappearance, which was procured by -means which we have still to ascertain, he flung into his carriage, -which drove right across Paris at a furious pace." -</P> - -<P> -"Across Paris?" asked poor Raoul, in a hoarse voice. "What do you mean -by across Paris?" -</P> - -<P> -"Across Paris and out of Paris ... by the Brussels road." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh," cried the young man, "I shall catch them!" And he rushed out of -the office. -</P> - -<P> -"And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily ... "Ah, that's -a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!" -</P> - -<P> -And, turning to his audience, M. Mifroid delivered a little lecture on -police methods. -</P> - -<P> -"I don't know for a moment whether M. le Comte de Chagny has really -carried Christine Daae off or not ... but I want to know and I believe -that, at this moment, no one is more anxious to inform us than his -brother ... And now he is flying in pursuit of him! He is my chief -auxiliary! This, gentlemen, is the art of the police, which is -believed to be so complicated and which, nevertheless appears so simple -as soon its you see that it consists in getting your work done by -people who have nothing to do with the police." -</P> - -<P> -But M. le Commissaire de Police Mifroid would not have been quite so -satisfied with himself if he had known that the rush of his rapid -emissary was stopped at the entrance to the very first corridor. A -tall figure blocked Raoul's way. -</P> - -<P> -"Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap of -an hour ago. He stopped: -</P> - -<P> -"It's you!" he cried, in a feverish voice. "You, who know Erik's -secrets and don't want me to speak of them. Who are you?" -</P> - -<P> -"You know who I am! ... I am the Persian!" -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap19"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XIX The Viscount and the Persian -</H3> - -<P> -Raoul now remembered that his brother had once shown him that -mysterious person, of whom nothing was known except that he was a -Persian and that he lived in a little old-fashioned flat in the Rue de -Rivoli. -</P> - -<P> -The man with the ebony skin, the eyes of jade and the astrakhan cap -bent over Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"I hope, M. de Chagny," he said, "that you have not betrayed Erik's -secret?" -</P> - -<P> -"And why should I hesitate to betray that monster, sir?" Raoul rejoined -haughtily, trying to shake off the intruder. "Is he your friend, by -any chance?" -</P> - -<P> -"I hope that you said nothing about Erik, sir, because Erik's secret is -also Christine Daae's and to talk about one is to talk about the other!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, sir," said Raoul, becoming more and more impatient, "you seem to -know about many things that interest me; and yet I have no time to -listen to you!" -</P> - -<P> -"Once more, M. de Chagny, where are you going so fast?" -</P> - -<P> -"Can not you guess? To Christine Daae's assistance..." -</P> - -<P> -"Then, sir, stay here, for Christine Daae is here!" -</P> - -<P> -"With Erik?" -</P> - -<P> -"With Erik." -</P> - -<P> -"How do you know?" -</P> - -<P> -"I was at the performance and no one in the world but Erik could -contrive an abduction like that! ... Oh," he said, with a deep sigh, "I -recognized the monster's touch! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"You know him then?" -</P> - -<P> -The Persian did not reply, but heaved a fresh sigh. -</P> - -<P> -"Sir," said Raoul, "I do not know what your intentions are, but can you -do anything to help me? I mean, to help Christine Daae?" -</P> - -<P> -"I think so, M. de Chagny, and that is why I spoke to you." -</P> - -<P> -"What can you do?" -</P> - -<P> -"Try to take you to her ... and to him." -</P> - -<P> -"If you can do me that service, sir, my life is yours! ... One word -more: the commissary of police tells me that Christine Daae has been -carried off by my brother, Count Philippe." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, M. de Chagny, I don't believe a word of it." -</P> - -<P> -"It's not possible, is it?" -</P> - -<P> -"I don't know if it is possible or not; but there are ways and ways of -carrying people off; and M. le Comte Philippe has never, as far as I -know, had anything to do with witchcraft." -</P> - -<P> -"Your arguments are convincing, sir, and I am a fool! ... Oh, let us -make haste! I place myself entirely in your hands! ... How should I -not believe you, when you are the only one to believe me ... when you -are the only one not to smile when Erik's name is mentioned?" -</P> - -<P> -And the young man impetuously seized the Persian's hands. They were -ice-cold. -</P> - -<P> -"Silence!" said the Persian, stopping and listening to the distant -sounds of the theater. "We must not mention that name here. Let us -say 'he' and 'him;' then there will be less danger of attracting his -attention." -</P> - -<P> -"Do you think he is near us?" -</P> - -<P> -"It is quite possible, Sir, if he is not, at this moment, with his -victim, IN THE HOUSE ON THE LAKE." -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, so you know that house too?" -</P> - -<P> -"If he is not there, he may be here, in this wall, in this floor, in -this ceiling! ... Come!" -</P> - -<P> -And the Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of his footsteps, led -him down passages which Raoul had never seen before, even at the time -when Christine used to take him for walks through that labyrinth. -</P> - -<P> -"If only Darius has come!" said the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -"Who is Darius?" -</P> - -<P> -"Darius? My servant." -</P> - -<P> -They were now in the center of a real deserted square, an immense -apartment ill-lit by a small lamp. The Persian stopped Raoul and, in -the softest of whispers, asked: -</P> - -<P> -"What did you say to the commissary?" -</P> - -<P> -"I said that Christine Daae's abductor was the Angel of Music, ALIAS -the Opera ghost, and that the real name was ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Hush! ... And did he believe you?" -</P> - -<P> -"No." -</P> - -<P> -"He attached no importance to what you said?" -</P> - -<P> -"No." -</P> - -<P> -"He took you for a bit of a madman?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes." -</P> - -<P> -"So much the better!" sighed the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -And they continued their road. After going up and down several -staircases which Raoul had never seen before, the two men found -themselves in front of a door which the Persian opened with a -master-key. The Persian and Raoul were both, of course, in -dress-clothes; but, whereas Raoul had a tall hat, the Persian wore the -astrakhan cap which I have already mentioned. It was an infringement -of the rule which insists upon the tall hat behind the scenes; but in -France foreigners are allowed every license: the Englishman his -traveling-cap, the Persian his cap of astrakhan. -</P> - -<P> -"Sir," said the Persian, "your tall hat will be in your way: you would -do well to leave it in the dressing-room." -</P> - -<P> -"What dressing-room?" asked Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine Daae's." -</P> - -<P> -And the Persian, letting Raoul through the door which he had just -opened, showed him the actress' room opposite. They were at the end of -the passage the whole length of which Raoul had been accustomed to -traverse before knocking at Christine's door. -</P> - -<P> -"How well you know the Opera, sir!" -</P> - -<P> -"Not so well as 'he' does!" said the Persian modestly. -</P> - -<P> -And he pushed the young man into Christine's dressing-room, which was -as Raoul had left it a few minutes earlier. -</P> - -<P> -Closing the door, the Persian went to a very thin partition that -separated the dressing-room from a big lumber-room next to it. He -listened and then coughed loudly. -</P> - -<P> -There was a sound of some one stirring in the lumber-room; and, a few -seconds later, a finger tapped at the door. -</P> - -<P> -"Come in," said the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -A man entered, also wearing an astrakhan cap and dressed in a long -overcoat. He bowed and took a richly carved case from under his coat, -put it on the dressing-table, bowed once again and went to the door. -</P> - -<P> -"Did no one see you come in, Darius?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, master." -</P> - -<P> -"Let no one see you go out." -</P> - -<P> -The servant glanced down the passage and swiftly disappeared. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian opened the case. It contained a pair of long pistols. -</P> - -<P> -"When Christine Daae was carried off, sir, I sent word to my servant to -bring me these pistols. I have had them a long time and they can be -relied upon." -</P> - -<P> -"Do you mean to fight a duel?" asked the young man. -</P> - -<P> -"It will certainly be a duel which we shall have to fight," said the -other, examining the priming of his pistols. "And what a duel!" -Handing one of the pistols to Raoul, he added, "In this duel, we shall -be two to one; but you must be prepared for everything, for we shall be -fighting the most terrible adversary that you can imagine. But you -love Christine Daae, do you not?" -</P> - -<P> -"I worship the ground she stands on! But you, sir, who do not love -her, tell me why I find you ready to risk your life for her! You must -certainly hate Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -"No, sir," said the Persian sadly, "I do not hate him. If I hated him, -he would long ago have ceased doing harm." -</P> - -<P> -"Has he done you harm?" -</P> - -<P> -"I have forgiven him the harm which he has done me." -</P> - -<P> -"I do not understand you. You treat him as a monster, you speak of his -crime, he has done you harm and I find in you the same inexplicable -pity that drove me to despair when I saw it in Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -The Persian did not reply. He fetched a stool and set it against the -wall facing the great mirror that filled the whole of the wall-space -opposite. Then he climbed on the stool and, with his nose to the -wallpaper, seemed to be looking for something. -</P> - -<P> -"Ah," he said, after a long search, "I have it!" And, raising his -finger above his head, he pressed against a corner in the pattern of -the paper. Then he turned round and jumped off the stool: -</P> - -<P> -"In half a minute," he said, "he shall be ON HIS ROAD!" and crossing -the whole of the dressing-room he felt the great mirror. -</P> - -<P> -"No, it is not yielding yet," he muttered. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, are we going out by the mirror?" asked Raoul. "Like Christine -Daae." -</P> - -<P> -"So you knew that Christine Daae went out by that mirror?" -</P> - -<P> -"She did so before my eyes, sir! I was hidden behind the curtain of -the inner room and I saw her vanish not by the glass, but in the glass!" -</P> - -<P> -"And what did you do?" -</P> - -<P> -"I thought it was an aberration of my senses, a mad dream. -</P> - -<P> -"Or some new fancy of the ghost's!" chuckled the Persian. "Ah, M. de -Chagny," he continued, still with his hand on the mirror, "would that -we had to do with a ghost! We could then leave our pistols in their -case ... Put down your hat, please ... there ... and now cover your -shirt-front as much as you can with your coat ... as I am doing ... -Bring the lapels forward ... turn up the collar ... We must make -ourselves as invisible as possible." -</P> - -<P> -Bearing against the mirror, after a short silence, he said: -</P> - -<P> -"It takes some time to release the counterbalance, when you press on -the spring from the inside of the room. It is different when you are -behind the wall and can act directly on the counterbalance. Then the -mirror turns at once and is moved with incredible rapidity." -</P> - -<P> -"What counterbalance?" asked Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"Why, the counterbalance that lifts the whole of this wall on to its -pivot. You surely don't expect it to move of itself, by enchantment! -If you watch, you will see the mirror first rise an inch or two and -then shift an inch or two from left to right. It will then be on a -pivot and will swing round." -</P> - -<P> -"It's not turning!" said Raoul impatiently. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, wait! You have time enough to be impatient, sir! The mechanism -has obviously become rusty, or else the spring isn't working... Unless -it is something else," added the Persian, anxiously. -</P> - -<P> -"What?" -</P> - -<P> -"He may simply have cut the cord of the counterbalance and blocked the -whole apparatus." -</P> - -<P> -"Why should he? He does not know that we are coming this way!" -</P> - -<P> -"I dare say he suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system." -</P> - -<P> -"It's not turning! ... And Christine, sir, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -The Persian said coldly: -</P> - -<P> -"We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do! ... But he may stop -us at the first step! ... He commands the walls, the doors and the -trapdoors. In my country, he was known by a name which means the -'trap-door lover.'" -</P> - -<P> -"But why do these walls obey him alone? He did not build them!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, sir, that is just what he did!" -</P> - -<P> -Raoul looked at him in amazement; but the Persian made a sign to him to -be silent and pointed to the glass ... There was a sort of shivering -reflection. Their image was troubled as in a rippling sheet of water -and then all became stationary again. -</P> - -<P> -"You see, sir, that it is not turning! Let us take another road!" -</P> - -<P> -"To-night, there is no other!" declared the Persian, in a singularly -mournful voice. "And now, look out! And be ready to fire." -</P> - -<P> -He himself raised his pistol opposite the glass. Raoul imitated his -movement. With his free arm, the Persian drew the young man to his -chest and, suddenly, the mirror turned, in a blinding daze of -cross-lights: it turned like one of those revolving doors which have -lately been fixed to the entrances of most restaurants, it turned, -carrying Raoul and the Persian with it and suddenly hurling them from -the full light into the deepest darkness. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap20"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XX In the Cellars of the Opera -</H3> - -<P> -"Your hand high, ready to fire!" repeated Raoul's companion quickly. -</P> - -<P> -The wall, behind them, having completed the circle which it described -upon itself, closed again; and the two men stood motionless for a -moment, holding their breath. -</P> - -<P> -At last, the Persian decided to make a movement; and Raoul heard him -slip on his knees and feel for something in the dark with his groping -hands. Suddenly, the darkness was made visible by a small dark lantern -and Raoul instinctively stepped backward as though to escape the -scrutiny of a secret enemy. But he soon perceived that the light -belonged to the Persian, whose movements he was closely observing. The -little red disk was turned in every direction and Raoul saw that the -floor, the walls and the ceiling were all formed of planking. It must -have been the ordinary road taken by Erik to reach Christine's -dressing-room and impose upon her innocence. And Raoul, remembering -the Persian's remark, thought that it had been mysteriously constructed -by the ghost himself. Later, he learned that Erik had found, all -prepared for him, a secret passage, long known to himself alone and -contrived at the time of the Paris Commune to allow the jailers to -convey their prisoners straight to the dungeons that had been -constructed for them in the cellars; for the Federates had occupied the -opera-house immediately after the eighteenth of March and had made a -starting-place right at the top for their Mongolfier balloons, which -carried their incendiary proclamations to the departments, and a state -prison right at the bottom. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian went on his knees and put his lantern on the ground. He -seemed to be working at the floor; and suddenly he turned off his -light. Then Raoul heard a faint click and saw a very pale luminous -square in the floor of the passage. It was as though a window had -opened on the Opera cellars, which were still lit. Raoul no longer saw -the Persian, but he suddenly felt him by his side and heard him whisper: -</P> - -<P> -"Follow me and do all that I do." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul turned to the luminous aperture. Then he saw the Persian, who -was still on his knees, hang by his hands from the rim of the opening, -with his pistol between his teeth, and slide into the cellar below. -</P> - -<P> -Curiously enough, the viscount had absolute confidence in the Persian, -though he knew nothing about him. His emotion when speaking of the -"monster" struck him as sincere; and, if the Persian had cherished any -sinister designs against him, he would not have armed him with his own -hands. Besides, Raoul must reach Christine at all costs. He therefore -went on his knees also and hung from the trap with both hands. -</P> - -<P> -"Let go!" said a voice. -</P> - -<P> -And he dropped into the arms of the Persian, who told him to lie down -flat, closed the trap-door above him and crouched down beside him. -Raoul tried to ask a question, but the Persian's hand was on his mouth -and he heard a voice which he recognized as that of the commissary of -police. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul and the Persian were completely hidden behind a wooden partition. -Near them, a small staircase led to a little room in which the -commissary appeared to be walking up and down, asking questions. The -faint light was just enough to enable Raoul to distinguish the shape of -things around him. And he could not restrain a dull cry: there were -three corpses there. -</P> - -<P> -The first lay on the narrow landing of the little staircase; the two -others had rolled to the bottom of the staircase. Raoul could have -touched one of the two poor wretches by passing his fingers through the -partition. -</P> - -<P> -"Silence!" whispered the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -He too had seen the bodies and he gave one word in explanation: -</P> - -<P> -"HE!" -</P> - -<P> -The commissary's voice was now heard more distinctly. He was asking -for information about the system of lighting, which the stage-manager -supplied. The commissary therefore must be in the "organ" or its -immediate neighborhood. -</P> - -<P> -Contrary to what one might think, especially in connection with an -opera-house, the "organ" is not a musical instrument. At that time, -electricity was employed only for a very few scenic effects and for the -bells. The immense building and the stage itself were still lit by -gas; hydrogen was used to regulate and modify the lighting of a scene; -and this was done by means of a special apparatus which, because of the -multiplicity of its pipes, was known as the "organ." A box beside the -prompter's box was reserved for the chief gas-man, who from there gave -his orders to his assistants and saw that they were executed. Mauclair -stayed in this box during all the performances. -</P> - -<P> -But now Mauclair was not in his box and his assistants not in their -places. -</P> - -<P> -"Mauclair! Mauclair!" -</P> - -<P> -The stage-manager's voice echoed through the cellars. But Mauclair did -not reply. -</P> - -<P> -I have said that a door opened on a little staircase that led to the -second cellar. The commissary pushed it, but it resisted. -</P> - -<P> -"I say," he said to the stage-manager, "I can't open this door: is it -always so difficult?" -</P> - -<P> -The stage-manager forced it open with his shoulder. He saw that, at -the same time, he was pushing a human body and he could not keep back -an exclamation, for he recognized the body at once: -</P> - -<P> -"Mauclair! Poor devil! He is dead!" -</P> - -<P> -But Mr. Commissary Mifroid, whom nothing surprised, was stooping over -that big body. -</P> - -<P> -"No," he said, "he is dead-drunk, which is not quite the same thing." -</P> - -<P> -"It's the first time, if so," said the stage-manager -</P> - -<P> -"Then some one has given him a narcotic. That is quite possible." -</P> - -<P> -Mifroid went down a few steps and said: -</P> - -<P> -"Look!" -</P> - -<P> -By the light of a little red lantern, at the foot of the stairs, they -saw two other bodies. The stage-manager recognized Mauclair's -assistants. Mifroid went down and listened to their breathing. -</P> - -<P> -"They are sound asleep," he said. "Very curious business! Some person -unknown must have interfered with the gas-man and his staff ... and -that person unknown was obviously working on behalf of the kidnapper -... But what a funny idea to kidnap a performer on the stage! ... Send -for the doctor of the theater, please." And Mifroid repeated, "Curious, -decidedly curious business!" -</P> - -<P> -Then he turned to the little room, addressing the people whom Raoul and -the Persian were unable to see from where they lay. -</P> - -<P> -"What do you say to all this, gentlemen? You are the only ones who -have not given your views. And yet you must have an opinion of some -sort." -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon, Raoul and the Persian saw the startled faces of the joint -managers appear above the landing—and they heard Moncharmin's excited -voice: -</P> - -<P> -"There are things happening here, Mr. Commissary, which we are unable -to explain." -</P> - -<P> -And the two faces disappeared. -</P> - -<P> -"Thank you for the information, gentlemen," said Mifroid, with a jeer. -</P> - -<P> -But the stage-manager, holding his chin in the hollow of his right -hand, which is the attitude of profound thought, said: -</P> - -<P> -"It is not the first time that Mauclair has fallen asleep in the -theater. I remember finding him, one evening, snoring in his little -recess, with his snuff-box beside him." -</P> - -<P> -"Is that long ago?" asked M. Mifroid, carefully wiping his eye-glasses. -</P> - -<P> -"No, not so very long ago ... Wait a bit! ... It was the night ... of -course, yes ... It was the night when Carlotta—you know, Mr. -Commissary—gave her famous 'co-ack'!" -</P> - -<P> -"Really? The night when Carlotta gave her famous 'co-ack'?" -</P> - -<P> -And M. Mifroid, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose, fixed the -stage-manager with a contemplative stare. -</P> - -<P> -"So Mauclair takes snuff, does he?" he asked carelessly. -</P> - -<P> -"'Yes, Mr. Commissary ... Look, there is his snuff-box on that little -shelf ... Oh! he's a great snuff-taker!" -</P> - -<P> -"So am I," said Mifroid and put the snuff-box in his pocket. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul and the Persian, themselves unobserved, watched the removal of -the three bodies by a number of scene-shifters, who were followed by -the commissary and all the people with him. Their steps were heard for -a few minutes on the stage above. When they were alone the Persian -made a sign to Raoul to stand up. Raoul did so; but, as he did not -lift his hand in front of his eyes, ready to fire, the Persian told him -to resume that attitude and to continue it, whatever happened. -</P> - -<P> -"But it tires the hand unnecessarily," whispered Raoul. "If I do fire, -I shan't be sure of my aim." -</P> - -<P> -"Then shift your pistol to the other hand," said the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -"I can't shoot with my left hand." -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon, the Persian made this queer reply, which was certainly not -calculated to throw light into the young man's flurried brain: -</P> - -<P> -"It's not a question of shooting with the right hand or the left; it's -a question of holding one of your hands as though you were going to -pull the trigger of a pistol with your arm bent. As for the pistol -itself, when all is said, you can put that in your pocket!" And he -added, "Let this be clearly understood, or I will answer for nothing. -It is a matter of life and death. And now, silence and follow me!" -</P> - -<P> -The cellars of the Opera are enormous and they are five in number. -Raoul followed the Persian and wondered what he would have done without -his companion in that extraordinary labyrinth. They went down to the -third cellar; and their progress was still lit by some distant lamp. -</P> - -<P> -The lower they went, the more precautions the Persian seemed to take. -He kept on turning to Raoul to see if he was holding his arm properly, -showing him how he himself carried his hand as if always ready to fire, -though the pistol was in his pocket. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, a loud voice made them stop. Some one above them shouted: -</P> - -<P> -"All the door-shutters on the stage! The commissary of police wants -them!" -</P> - -<P> -Steps were heard and shadows glided through the darkness. The Persian -drew Raoul behind a set piece. They saw passing before and above them -old men bent by age and the past burden of opera-scenery. Some could -hardly drag themselves along; others, from habit, with stooping bodies -and outstretched hands, looked for doors to shut. -</P> - -<P> -They were the door-shutters, the old, worn-out scene-shifters, on whom -a charitable management had taken pity, giving them the job of shutting -doors above and below the stage. They went about incessantly, from top -to bottom of the building, shutting the doors; and they were also -called "The draft-expellers," at least at that time, for I have little -doubt that by now they are all dead. Drafts are very bad for the -voice, wherever they may come from.[1] -</P> - -<P> -The two men might have stumbled over them, waking them up and provoking -a request for explanations. For the moment, M. Mifroid's inquiry saved -them from any such unpleasant encounters. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian and Raoul welcomed this incident, which relieved them of -inconvenient witnesses, for some of those door-shutters, having nothing -else to do or nowhere to lay their heads, stayed at the Opera, from -idleness or necessity, and spent the night there. -</P> - -<P> -But they were not left to enjoy their solitude for long. Other shades -now came down by the same way by which the door-shutters had gone up. -Each of these shades carried a little lantern and moved it about, -above, below and all around, as though looking for something or -somebody. -</P> - -<P> -"Hang it!" muttered the Persian. "I don't know what they are looking -for, but they might easily find us ... Let us get away, quick! ... -Your hand up, sir, ready to fire! ... Bend your arm ... more ... that's -it! ... Hand at the level of your eye, as though you were fighting a -duel and waiting for the word to fire! Oh, leave your pistol in your -pocket. Quick, come along, down-stairs. Level of your eye! Question -of life or death! ... Here, this way, these stairs!" They reached the -fifth cellar. "Oh, what a duel, sir, what a duel!" -</P> - -<P> -Once in the fifth cellar, the Persian drew breath. He seemed to enjoy -a rather greater sense of security than he had displayed when they both -stopped in the third; but he never altered the attitude of his hand. -And Raoul, remembering the Persian's observation—"I know these pistols -can be relied upon"—was more and more astonished, wondering why any -one should be so gratified at being able to rely upon a pistol which he -did not intend to use! -</P> - -<P> -But the Persian left him no time for reflection. Telling Raoul to stay -where he was, he ran up a few steps of the staircase which they had -just left and then returned. -</P> - -<P> -"How stupid of us!" he whispered. "We shall soon have seen the end of -those men with their lanterns. It is the firemen going their -rounds."[2] -</P> - -<P> -The two men waited five minutes longer. Then the Persian took Raoul up -the stairs again; but suddenly he stopped him with a gesture. -Something moved in the darkness before them. -</P> - -<P> -"Flat on your stomach!" whispered the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -The two men lay flat on the floor. -</P> - -<P> -They were only just in time. A shade, this time carrying no light, -just a shade in the shade, passed. It passed close to them, near -enough to touch them. -</P> - -<P> -They felt the warmth of its cloak upon them. For they could -distinguish the shade sufficiently to see that it wore a cloak which -shrouded it from head to foot. On its head it had a soft felt hat ... -</P> - -<P> -It moved away, drawing its feet against the walls and sometimes giving -a kick into a corner. -</P> - -<P> -"Whew!" said the Persian. "We've had a narrow escape; that shade knows -me and has twice taken me to the managers' office." -</P> - -<P> -"Is it some one belonging to the theater police?" asked Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"It's some one much worse than that!" replied the Persian, without -giving any further explanation.[3] -</P> - -<P> -"It's not ... he?" -</P> - -<P> -"He? ... If he does not come behind us, we shall always see his yellow -eyes! That is more or less our safeguard to-night. But he may come -from behind, stealing up; and we are dead men if we do not keep our -hands as though about to fire, at the level of our eyes, in front!" -</P> - -<P> -The Persian had hardly finished speaking, when a fantastic face came in -sight ... a whole fiery face, not only two yellow eyes! -</P> - -<P> -Yes, a head of fire came toward them, at a man's height, but with no -body attached to it. The face shed fire, looked in the darkness like a -flame shaped as a man's face. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh," said the Persian, between his teeth. "I have never seen this -before! ... Pampin was not mad, after all: he had seen it! ... What -can that flame be? It is not HE, but he may have sent it! ... Take -care! ... Take care! Your hand at the level of your eyes, in Heaven's -name, at the level of your eyes! ... know most of his tricks ... but -not this one ... Come, let us run ... it is safer. Hand at the level -of your eyes!" -</P> - -<P> -And they fled down the long passage that opened before them. -</P> - -<P> -After a few seconds, that seemed to them like long minutes, they -stopped. -</P> - -<P> -"He doesn't often come this way," said the Persian. "This side has -nothing to do with him. This side does not lead to the lake nor to the -house on the lake ... But perhaps he knows that we are at his heels -... although I promised him to leave him alone and never to meddle in -his business again!" -</P> - -<P> -So saying, he turned his head and Raoul also turned his head; and they -again saw the head of fire behind their two heads. It had followed -them. And it must have run also, and perhaps faster than they, for it -seemed to be nearer to them. -</P> - -<P> -At the same time, they began to perceive a certain noise of which they -could not guess the nature. They simply noticed that the sound seemed -to move and to approach with the fiery face. It was a noise as though -thousands of nails had been scraped against a blackboard, the perfectly -unendurable noise that is sometimes made by a little stone inside the -chalk that grates on the blackboard. -</P> - -<P> -They continued to retreat, but the fiery face came on, came on, gaining -on them. They could see its features clearly now. The eyes were round -and staring, the nose a little crooked and the mouth large, with a -hanging lower lip, very like the eyes, nose and lip of the moon, when -the moon is quite red, bright red. -</P> - -<P> -How did that red moon manage to glide through the darkness, at a man's -height, with nothing to support it, at least apparently? And how did -it go so fast, so straight ahead, with such staring, staring eyes? And -what was that scratching, scraping, grating sound which it brought with -it? -</P> - -<P> -The Persian and Raoul could retreat no farther and flattened themselves -against the wall, not knowing what was going to happen because of that -incomprehensible head of fire, and especially now, because of the more -intense, swarming, living, "numerous" sound, for the sound was -certainly made up of hundreds of little sounds that moved in the -darkness, under the fiery face. -</P> - -<P> -And the fiery face came on ... with its noise ... came level with them! -... -</P> - -<P> -And the two companions, flat against their wall, felt their hair stand -on end with horror, for they now knew what the thousand noises meant. -They came in a troop, hustled along in the shadow by innumerable little -hurried waves, swifter than the waves that rush over the sands at high -tide, little night-waves foaming under the moon, under the fiery head -that was like a moon. And the little waves passed between their legs, -climbing up their legs, irresistibly, and Raoul and the Persian could -no longer restrain their cries of horror, dismay and pain. Nor could -they continue to hold their hands at the level of their eyes: their -hands went down to their legs to push back the waves, which were full -of little legs and nails and claws and teeth. -</P> - -<P> -Yes, Raoul and the Persian were ready to faint, like Pampin the -fireman. But the head of fire turned round in answer to their cries, -and spoke to them: -</P> - -<P> -"Don't move! Don't move! ... Whatever you do, don't come after me! -... I am the rat-catcher! ... Let me pass, with my rats! ..." -</P> - -<P> -And the head of fire disappeared, vanished in the darkness, while the -passage in front of it lit up, as the result of the change which the -rat-catcher had made in his dark lantern. Before, so as not to scare -the rats in front of him, he had turned his dark lantern on himself, -lighting up his own head; now, to hasten their flight, he lit the dark -space in front of him. And he jumped along, dragging with him the -waves of scratching rats, all the thousand sounds. -</P> - -<P> -Raoul and the Persian breathed again, though still trembling. -</P> - -<P> -"I ought to have remembered that Erik talked to me about the -rat-catcher," said the Persian. "But he never told me that he looked -like that ... and it's funny that I should never have met him before -... Of course, Erik never comes to this part!" -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -[Illustration: two page color illustration] -</P> - -<P> -"Are we very far from the lake, sir?" asked Raoul. "When shall we get -there? ... Take me to the lake, oh, take me to the lake! ... When we -are at the lake, we will call out! ... Christine will hear us! ... And -HE will hear us, too! ... And, as you know him, we shall talk to him!" -"Baby!" said the Persian. "We shall never enter the house on the lake -by the lake! ... I myself have never landed on the other bank ... the -bank on which the house stands. ... You have to cross the lake first -... and it is well guarded! ... I fear that more than one of those -men—old scene-shifters, old door-shutters—who have never been seen -again were simply tempted to cross the lake ... It is terrible ... I -myself would have been nearly killed there ... if the monster had not -recognized me in time! ... One piece of advice, sir; never go near the -lake... And, above all, shut your ears if you hear the voice singing -under the water, the siren's voice!" -</P> - -<P> -"But then, what are we here for?" asked Raoul, in a transport of fever, -impatience and rage. "If you can do nothing for Christine, at least -let me die for her!" The Persian tried to calm the young man. -</P> - -<P> -"We have only one means of saving Christine Daae, believe me, which is -to enter the house unperceived by the monster." -</P> - -<P> -"And is there any hope of that, sir?" -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, if I had not that hope, I would not have come to fetch you!" -</P> - -<P> -"And how can one enter the house on the lake without crossing the lake?" -</P> - -<P> -"From the third cellar, from which we were so unluckily driven away. -We will go back there now ... I will tell you," said the Persian, with -a sudden change in his voice, "I will tell you the exact place, sir: it -is between a set piece and a discarded scene from ROI DE LAHORE, -exactly at the spot where Joseph Buquet died... Come, sir, take -courage and follow me! And hold your hand at the level of your eyes! -... But where are we?" -</P> - -<P> -The Persian lit his lamp again and flung its rays down two enormous -corridors that crossed each other at right angles. -</P> - -<P> -"We must be," he said, "in the part used more particularly for the -waterworks. I see no fire coming from the furnaces." -</P> - -<P> -He went in front of Raoul, seeking his road, stopping abruptly when he -was afraid of meeting some waterman. Then they had to protect -themselves against the glow of a sort of underground forge, which the -men were extinguishing, and at which Raoul recognized the demons whom -Christine had seen at the time of her first captivity. -</P> - -<P> -In this way, they gradually arrived beneath the huge cellars below the -stage. They must at this time have been at the very bottom of the -"tub" and at an extremely great depth, when we remember that the earth -was dug out at fifty feet below the water that lay under the whole of -that part of Paris.[4] -</P> - -<P> -The Persian touched a partition-wall and said: -</P> - -<P> -"If I am not mistaken, this is a wall that might easily belong to the -house on the lake." -</P> - -<P> -He was striking a partition-wall of the "tub," and perhaps it would be -as well for the reader to know how the bottom and the partition-walls -of the tub were built. In order to prevent the water surrounding the -building-operations from remaining in immediate contact with the walls -supporting the whole of the theatrical machinery, the architect was -obliged to build a double case in every direction. The work of -constructing this double case took a whole year. It was the wall of -the first inner case that the Persian struck when speaking to Raoul of -the house on the lake. To any one understanding the architecture of -the edifice, the Persian's action would seem to indicate that Erik's -mysterious house had been built in the double case, formed of a thick -wall constructed as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall, a -tremendous layer of cement and another wall several yards in thickness. -</P> - -<P> -At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against the wall and -listened eagerly. But he heard nothing ... nothing ... except distant -steps sounding on the floor of the upper portions of the theater. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian darkened his lantern again. -</P> - -<P> -"Look out!" he said. "Keep your hand up! And silence! For we shall -try another way of getting in." -</P> - -<P> -And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come down -lately. -</P> - -<P> -They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness and the -silence, till they came to the third cellar. Here the Persian motioned -to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, crawling on both knees -and one hand—for the other hand was held in the position -indicated—they reached the end wall. -</P> - -<P> -Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE. -Close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set -piece there was just room for a body ... for a body which one day was -found hanging there. The body of Joseph Buquet. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment, he -seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his eyes upward, -toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint glimmer of a -lantern, through a cranny between two boards. This glimmer seemed to -trouble the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act. He slipped -between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul -close upon his heels. With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall. -Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed -against the wall in Christine's dressing-room. Then a stone gave way, -leaving a hole in the wall. -</P> - -<P> -This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made a sign -to Raoul to do as he did. He cocked the pistol. -</P> - -<P> -And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole in the -wall. Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content to follow -him. -</P> - -<P> -The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped almost at once. Raoul -heard him feeling the stones around him. Then the Persian took out his -dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath him and -immediately extinguished his lantern. Raoul heard him say, in a -whisper: -</P> - -<P> -"We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise; take off -your boots." -</P> - -<P> -The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -"Put them outside the wall," he said. "We shall find them there when -we leave."[5] -</P> - -<P> -He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round and -said: -</P> - -<P> -"I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and let -myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE. You must do exactly the same. Do not be -afraid. I will catch you in my arms." -</P> - -<P> -Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall of the -Persian, and then dropped down. -</P> - -<P> -He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms. -</P> - -<P> -"Hush!" said the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -And they stood motionless, listening. -</P> - -<P> -The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible. -</P> - -<P> -Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern again, -turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole through which -they had come, and failing to find it: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh!" he said. "The stone has closed of itself!" -</P> - -<P> -And the light of the lantern swept down the wall and over the floor. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian stooped and picked up something, a sort of cord, which he -examined for a second and flung away with horror. -</P> - -<P> -"The Punjab lasso!" he muttered. -</P> - -<P> -"What is it?" asked Raoul. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian shivered. "It might very well be the rope by which the man -was hanged, and which was looked for so long." -</P> - -<P> -And, suddenly seized with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk -of his lantern over the walls. In this way, he lit up a curious thing: -the trunk of a tree, which seemed still quite alive, with its leaves; -and the branches of that tree ran right up the walls and disappeared in -the ceiling. -</P> - -<P> -Because of the smallness of the luminous disk, it was difficult at -first to make out the appearance of things: they saw a corner of a -branch ... and a leaf ... and another leaf ... and, next to it, nothing -at all, nothing but the ray of light that seemed to reflect itself ... -Raoul passed his hand over that nothing, over that reflection. -</P> - -<P> -"Hullo!" he said. "The wall is a looking-glass!" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, a looking-glass!" said the Persian, in a tone of deep emotion. -And, passing the hand that held the pistol over his moist forehead, he -added, "We have dropped into the torture-chamber!" -</P> - -<P> -What the Persian knew of this torture-chamber and what there befell him -and his companion shall be told in his own words, as set down in a -manuscript which he left behind him, and which I copy VERBATIM. -</P> - -<BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[1] M. Pedro Gailhard has himself told me that he created a few -additional posts as door-shutters for old stage-carpenters whom he was -unwilling to dismiss from the service of the Opera. -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[2] In those days, it was still part of the firemen's duty to watch -over the safety of the Opera house outside the performances; but this -service has since been suppressed. I asked M. Pedro Gailhard the -reason, and he replied: -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -"It was because the management was afraid that, in their utter -inexperience of the cellars of the Opera, the firemen might set fire to -the building!" -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[3] Like the Persian, I can give no further explanation touching the -apparition of this shade. Whereas, in this historic narrative, -everything else will be normally explained, however abnormal the course -of events may seem, I can not give the reader expressly to understand -what the Persian meant by the words, "It is some one much worse than -that!" The reader must try to guess for himself, for I promised M. -Pedro Gailhard, the former manager of the Opera, to keep his secret -regarding the extremely interesting and useful personality of the -wandering, cloaked shade which, while condemning itself to live in the -cellars of the Opera, rendered such immense services to those who, on -gala evenings, for instance, venture to stray away from the stage. I -am speaking of state services; and, upon my word of honor, I can say no -more. -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[4] All the water had to be exhausted, in the building of the Opera. -To give an idea of the amount of water that was pumped up, I can tell -the reader that it represented the area of the courtyard of the Louvre -and a height half as deep again as the towers of Notre Dame. And -nevertheless the engineers had to leave a lake. -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[5] These two pairs of boots, which were placed, according to the -Persian's papers, just between the set piece and the scene from the ROI -DE LAHORE, on the spot where Joseph Buquet was found hanging, were -never discovered. They must have been taken by some stage-carpenter or -"door-shutter." -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap21"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XXI Interesting and Instructive Vicissitudes <BR> -of a Persian in the Cellars of the Opera -</H3> - -<H3> -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE -</H3> - -<P> -It was the first time that I entered the house on the lake. I had -often begged the "trap-door lover," as we used to call Erik in my -country, to open its mysterious doors to me. He always refused. I -made very many attempts, but in vain, to obtain admittance. Watch him -as I might, after I first learned that he had taken up his permanent -abode at the Opera, the darkness was always too thick to enable me to -see how he worked the door in the wall on the lake. One day, when I -thought myself alone, I stepped into the boat and rowed toward that -part of the wall through which I had seen Erik disappear. It was then -that I came into contact with the siren who guarded the approach and -whose charm was very nearly fatal to me. -</P> - -<P> -I had no sooner put off from the bank than the silence amid which I -floated on the water was disturbed by a sort of whispered singing that -hovered all around me. It was half breath, half music; it rose softly -from the waters of the lake; and I was surrounded by it through I knew -not what artifice. It followed me, moved with me and was so soft that -it did not alarm me. On the contrary, in my longing to approach the -source of that sweet and enticing harmony, I leaned out of my little -boat over the water, for there was no doubt in my mind that the singing -came from the water itself. By this time, I was alone in the boat in -the middle of the lake; the voice—for it was now distinctly a -voice—was beside me, on the water. I leaned over, leaned still -farther. The lake was perfectly calm, and a moonbeam that passed -through the air hole in the Rue Scribe showed me absolutely nothing on -its surface, which was smooth and black as ink. I shook my ears to get -rid of a possible humming; but I soon had to accept the fact that there -was no humming in the ears so harmonious as the singing whisper that -followed and now attracted me. -</P> - -<P> -Had I been inclined to superstition, I should have certainly thought -that I had to do with some siren whose business it was to confound the -traveler who should venture on the waters of the house on the lake. -Fortunately, I come from a country where we are too fond of fantastic -things not to know them through and through; and I had no doubt but -that I was face to face with some new invention of Erik's. But this -invention was so perfect that, as I leaned out of the boat, I was -impelled less by a desire to discover its trick than to enjoy its -charm; and I leaned out, leaned out until I almost overturned the boat. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, two monstrous arms issued from the bosom of the waters and -seized me by the neck, dragging me down to the depths with irresistible -force. I should certainly have been lost, if I had not had time to -give a cry by which Erik knew me. For it was he; and, instead of -drowning me, as was certainly his first intention, he swam with me and -laid me gently on the bank: -</P> - -<P> -"How imprudent you are!" he said, as he stood before me, dripping with -water. "Why try to enter my house? I never invited you! I don't want -you there, nor anybody! Did you save my life only to make it -unbearable to me? However great the service you rendered him, Erik may -end by forgetting it; and you know that nothing can restrain Erik, not -even Erik himself." -</P> - -<P> -He spoke, but I had now no other wish than to know what I already -called the trick of the siren. He satisfied my curiosity, for Erik, -who is a real monster—I have seen him at work in Persia, alas—is -also, in certain respects, a regular child, vain and self-conceited, -and there is nothing he loves so much, after astonishing people, as to -prove all the really miraculous ingenuity of his mind. -</P> - -<P> -He laughed and showed me a long reed. -</P> - -<P> -"It's the silliest trick you ever saw," he said, "but it's very useful -for breathing and singing in the water. I learned it from the Tonkin -pirates, who are able to remain hidden for hours in the beds of the -rivers."[1] -</P> - -<P> -I spoke to him severely. -</P> - -<P> -"It's a trick that nearly killed me!" I said. "And it may have been -fatal to others! You know what you promised me, Erik? No more -murders!" -</P> - -<P> -"Have I really committed murders?" he asked, putting on his most -amiable air. -</P> - -<P> -"Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours of -Mazenderan?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. I used -to make the little sultana laugh, though!" -</P> - -<P> -"All that belongs to the past," I declared; "but there is the present -... and you are responsible to me for the present, because, if I had -wished, there would have been none at all for you. Remember that, -Erik: I saved your life!" -</P> - -<P> -And I took advantage of the turn of conversation to speak to him of -something that had long been on my mind: -</P> - -<P> -"Erik," I asked, "Erik, swear that ..." -</P> - -<P> -"What?" he retorted. "You know I never keep my oaths. Oaths are made -to catch gulls with." -</P> - -<P> -"Tell me ... you can tell me, at any rate..." -</P> - -<P> -"Well?" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, the chandelier ... the chandelier, Erik? ..." -</P> - -<P> -"What about the chandelier?" -</P> - -<P> -"You know what I mean." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh," he sniggered, "I don't mind telling you about the chandelier! -... IT WASN'T I! ... The chandelier was very old and worn." -</P> - -<P> -When Erik laughed, he was more terrible than ever. He jumped into the -boat, chuckling so horribly that I could not help trembling. -</P> - -<P> -"Very old and worn, my dear daroga![2] Very old and worn, the -chandelier! ... It fell of itself! ... It came down with a smash! ... -And now, daroga, take my advice and go and dry yourself, or you'll -catch a cold in the head! ... And never get into my boat again ... -And, whatever you do, don't try to enter my house: I'm not always -there ... daroga! And I should be sorry to have to dedicate my Requiem -Mass to you!" -</P> - -<P> -So saying, swinging to and fro, like a monkey, and still chuckling, he -pushed off and soon disappeared in the darkness of the lake. -</P> - -<P> -From that day, I gave up all thought of penetrating into his house by -the lake. That entrance was obviously too well guarded, especially -since he had learned that I knew about it. But I felt that there must -be another entrance, for I had often seen Erik disappear in the third -cellar, when I was watching him, though I could not imagine how. -</P> - -<P> -Ever since I had discovered Erik installed in the Opera, I lived in a -perpetual terror of his horrible fancies, not in so far as I was -concerned, but I dreaded everything for others.[3] -</P> - -<P> -And whenever some accident, some fatal event happened, I always thought -to myself, "I should not be surprised if that were Erik," even as -others used to say, "It's the ghost!" How often have I not heard -people utter that phrase with a smile! Poor devils! If they had known -that the ghost existed in the flesh, I swear they would not have -laughed! -</P> - -<P> -Although Erik announced to me very solemnly that he had changed and -that he had become the most virtuous of men SINCE HE WAS LOVED FOR -HIMSELF—a sentence that, at first, perplexed me most terribly—I could -not help shuddering when I thought of the monster. His horrible, -unparalleled and repulsive ugliness put him without the pale of -humanity; and it often seemed to me that, for this reason, he no longer -believed that he had any duty toward the human race. The way in which -he spoke of his love affairs only increased my alarm, for I foresaw the -cause of fresh and more hideous tragedies in this event to which he -alluded so boastfully. -</P> - -<P> -On the other hand, I soon discovered the curious moral traffic -established between the monster and Christine Daae. Hiding in the -lumber-room next to the young prima donna's dressing-room, I listened -to wonderful musical displays that evidently flung Christine into -marvelous ecstasy; but, all the same, I would never have thought that -Erik's voice—which was loud as thunder or soft as angels' voices, at -will—could have made her forget his ugliness. I understood all when I -learned that Christine had not yet seen him! I had occasion to go to -the dressing-room and, remembering the lessons he had once given me, I -had no difficulty in discovering the trick that made the wall with the -mirror swing round and I ascertained the means of hollow bricks and so -on—by which he made his voice carry to Christine as though she heard -it close beside her. In this way also I discovered the road that led -to the well and the dungeon—the Communists' dungeon—and also the -trap-door that enabled Erik to go straight to the cellars below the -stage. -</P> - -<P> -A few days later, what was not my amazement to learn by my own eyes and -ears that Erik and Christine Daae saw each other and to catch the -monster stooping over the little well, in the Communists' road and -sprinkling the forehead of Christine Daae, who had fainted. A white -horse, the horse out of the PROFETA, which had disappeared from the -stables under the Opera, was standing quietly beside them. I showed -myself. It was terrible. I saw sparks fly from those yellow eyes and, -before I had time to say a word, I received a blow on the head that -stunned me. -</P> - -<P> -When I came to myself, Erik, Christine and the white horse had -disappeared. I felt sure that the poor girl was a prisoner in the -house on the lake. Without hesitation, I resolved to return to the -bank, notwithstanding the attendant danger. For twenty-four hours, I -lay in wait for the monster to appear; for I felt that he must go out, -driven by the need of obtaining provisions. And, in this connection, I -may say, that, when he went out in the streets or ventured to show -himself in public, he wore a pasteboard nose, with a mustache attached -to it, instead of his own horrible hole of a nose. This did not quite -take away his corpse-like air, but it made him almost, I say almost, -endurable to look at. -</P> - -<P> -I therefore watched on the bank of the lake and, weary of long waiting, -was beginning to think that he had gone through the other door, the -door in the third cellar, when I heard a slight splashing in the dark, -I saw the two yellow eyes shining like candles and soon the boat -touched shore. Erik jumped out and walked up to me: -</P> - -<P> -"You've been here for twenty-four hours," he said, "and you're annoying -me. I tell you, all this will end very badly. And you will have -brought it upon yourself; for I have been extraordinarily patient with -you. You think you are following me, you great booby, whereas it's I -who am following you; and I know all that you know about me, here. I -spared you yesterday, in MY COMMUNISTS' ROAD; but I warn you, -seriously, don't let me catch you there again! Upon my word, you don't -seem able to take a hint!" -</P> - -<P> -He was so furious that I did not think, for the moment, of interrupting -him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus, he put his horrible -thought into words: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, you must learn, once and for all—once and for all, I say—to -take a hint! I tell you that, with your recklessness—for you have -already been twice arrested by the shade in the felt hat, who did not -know what you were doing in the cellars and took you to the managers, -who looked upon you as an eccentric Persian interested in stage -mechanism and life behind the scenes: I know all about it, I was -there, in the office; you know I am everywhere—well, I tell you that, -with your recklessness, they will end by wondering what you are after -here ... and they will end by knowing that you are after Erik ... and -then they will be after Erik themselves and they will discover the -house on the lake ... If they do, it will be a bad lookout for you, -old chap, a bad lookout! ... I won't answer for anything." -</P> - -<P> -Again he puffed and blew like a walrus. -</P> - -<P> -"I won't answer for anything! ... If Erik's secrets cease to be Erik's -secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER OF THE HUMAN -RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you are a great booby, -it ought to be enough for you ... except that you don't know how to -take a hint." -</P> - -<P> -He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his heels -against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer. I simply -said: -</P> - -<P> -"It's not Erik that I'm after here!" -</P> - -<P> -"Who then?" -</P> - -<P> -"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered. -</P> - -<P> -He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house. I am -loved for my own sake." -</P> - -<P> -"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are keeping -her locked up." -</P> - -<P> -"Listen," he said. "Will you promise never to meddle with my affairs -again, if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, I promise you," I replied, without hesitation, for I felt -convinced that for such a monster the proof was impossible. -</P> - -<P> -"Well, then, it's quite simple ... Christine Daae shall leave this as -she pleases and come back again! ... Yes, come back again, because she -wishes ... come back of herself, because she loves me for myself! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, I doubt if she will come back! ... But it is your duty to let her -go." "My duty, you great booby! ... It is my wish ... my wish to let -her go; and she will come back again ... for she loves me! ... All this -will end in a marriage ... a marriage at the Madeleine, you great -booby! Do you believe me now? When I tell you that my nuptial mass is -written ... wait till you hear the KYRIE..." -</P> - -<P> -He beat time with his heels on the planks of the boat and sang: -</P> - -<P> -"KYRIE! ... KYRIE! ... KYRIE ELEISON! ... Wait till you hear, wait till -you hear that mass." -</P> - -<P> -"Look here," I said. "I shall believe you if I see Christine Daae come -out of the house on the lake and go back to it of her own accord." -</P> - -<P> -"And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?" -</P> - -<P> -"No." -</P> - -<P> -"Very well, you shall see that to-night. Come to the masked ball. -Christine and I will go and have a look round. Then you can hide in -the lumber-room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone to her -dressing-room, delighted to come back by the Communists' road... And, -now, be off, for I must go and do some shopping!" -</P> - -<P> -To my intense astonishment, things happened as he had announced. -Christine Daae left the house on the lake and returned to it several -times, without, apparently, being forced to do so. It was very -difficult for me to clear my mind of Erik. However, I resolved to be -extremely prudent, and did not make the mistake of returning to the -shore of the lake, or of going by the Communists' road. But the idea -of the secret entrance in the third cellar haunted me, and I repeatedly -went and waited for hours behind a scene from the Roi de Lahore, which -had been left there for some reason or other. At last my patience was -rewarded. One day, I saw the monster come toward me, on his knees. I -was certain that he could not see me. He passed between the scene -behind which I stood and a set piece, went to the wall and pressed on a -spring that moved a stone and afforded him an ingress. He passed -through this, and the stone closed behind him. -</P> - -<P> -I waited for at least thirty minutes and then pressed the spring in my -turn. Everything happened as with Erik. But I was careful not to go -through the hole myself, for I knew that Erik was inside. On the other -hand, the idea that I might be caught by Erik suddenly made me think of -the death of Joseph Buquet. I did not wish to jeopardize the -advantages of so great a discovery which might be useful to many -people, "to a goodly number of the human race," in Erik's words; and I -left the cellars of the Opera after carefully replacing the stone. -</P> - -<P> -I continued to be greatly interested in the relations between Erik and -Christine Daae, not from any morbid curiosity, but because of the -terrible thought which obsessed my mind that Erik was capable of -anything, if he once discovered that he was not loved for his own sake, -as he imagined. I continued to wander, very cautiously, about the -Opera and soon learned the truth about the monster's dreary love-affair. -</P> - -<P> -He filled Christine's mind, through the terror with which he inspired -her, but the dear child's heart belonged wholly to the Vicomte Raoul de -Chagny. While they played about, like an innocent engaged couple, on -the upper floors of the Opera, to avoid the monster, they little -suspected that some one was watching over them. I was prepared to do -anything: to kill the monster, if necessary, and explain to the police -afterward. But Erik did not show himself; and I felt none the more -comfortable for that. -</P> - -<P> -I must explain my whole plan. I thought that the monster, being driven -from his house by jealousy, would thus enable me to enter it, without -danger, through the passage in the third cellar. It was important, for -everybody's sake, that I should know exactly what was inside. One day, -tired of waiting for an opportunity, I moved the stone and at once -heard an astounding music: the monster was working at his Don Juan -Triumphant, with every door in his house wide open. I knew that this -was the work of his life. I was careful not to stir and remained -prudently in my dark hole. -</P> - -<P> -He stopped playing, for a moment, and began walking about his place, -like a madman. And he said aloud, at the top of his voice: -</P> - -<P> -"It must be finished FIRST! Quite finished!" -</P> - -<P> -This speech was not calculated to reassure me and, when the music -recommenced, I closed the stone very softly. -</P> - -<P> -On the day of the abduction of Christine Daae, I did not come to the -theater until rather late in the evening, trembling lest I should hear -bad news. I had spent a horrible day, for, after reading in a morning -paper the announcement of a forthcoming marriage between Christine and -the Vicomte de Chagny, I wondered whether, after all, I should not do -better to denounce the monster. But reason returned to me, and I was -persuaded that this action could only precipitate a possible -catastrophe. -</P> - -<P> -When, my cab set me down before the Opera, I was really almost -astonished to see it still standing! But I am something of a fatalist, -like all good Orientals, and I entered ready, for anything. -</P> - -<P> -Christine Daae's abduction in the Prison Act, which naturally surprised -everybody, found me prepared. I was quite certain that she had been -juggled away by Erik, that prince of conjurers. And I thought -positively that this was the end of Christine and perhaps of everybody, -so much so that I thought of advising all these people who were staying -on at the theater to make good their escape. I felt, however, that -they would be sure to look upon me as mad and I refrained. -</P> - -<P> -On the other hand, I resolved to act without further delay, as far as I -was concerned. The chances were in my favor that Erik, at that moment, -was thinking only of his captive. This was the moment to enter his -house through the third cellar; and I resolved to take with me that -poor little desperate viscount, who, at the first suggestion, accepted, -with an amount of confidence in myself that touched me profoundly. I -had sent my servant for my pistols. I gave one to the viscount and -advised him to hold himself ready to fire, for, after all, Erik might -be waiting for us behind the wall. We were to go by the Communists' -road and through the trap-door. -</P> - -<P> -Seeing my pistols, the little viscount asked me if we were going to -fight a duel. I said: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes; and what a duel!" But, of course, I had no time to explain -anything to him. The little viscount is a brave fellow, but he knew -hardly anything about his adversary; and it was so much the better. My -great fear was that he was already somewhere near us, preparing the -Punjab lasso. No one knows better than he how to throw the Punjab -lasso, for he is the king of stranglers even as he is the prince of -conjurors. When he had finished making the little sultana laugh, at -the time of the "rosy hours of Mazenderan," she herself used to ask him -to amuse her by giving her a thrill. It was then that he introduced -the sport of the Punjab lasso. -</P> - -<P> -He had lived in India and acquired an incredible skill in the art of -strangulation. He would make them lock him into a courtyard to which -they brought a warrior—usually, a man condemned to death—armed with a -long pike and broadsword. Erik had only his lasso; and it was always -just when the warrior thought that he was going to fell Erik with a -tremendous blow that we heard the lasso whistle through the air. With -a turn of the wrist, Erik tightened the noose round his adversary's -neck and, in this fashion, dragged him before the little sultana and -her women, who sat looking from a window and applauding. The little -sultana herself learned to wield the Punjab lasso and killed several of -her women and even of the friends who visited her. But I prefer to -drop this terrible subject of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. I have -mentioned it only to explain why, on arriving with the Vicomte de -Chagny in the cellars of the Opera, I was bound to protect my companion -against the ever-threatening danger of death by strangling. My pistols -could serve no purpose, for Erik was not likely to show himself; but -Erik could always strangle us. I had no time to explain all this to -the viscount; besides, there was nothing to be gained by complicating -the position. I simply told M. de Chagny to keep his hand at the level -of his eyes, with the arm bent, as though waiting for the command to -fire. With his victim in this attitude, it is impossible even for the -most expert strangler to throw the lasso with advantage. It catches -you not only round the neck, but also round the arm or hand. This -enables you easily to unloose the lasso, which then becomes harmless. -</P> - -<P> -After avoiding the commissary of police, a number of door-shutters and -the firemen, after meeting the rat-catcher and passing the man in the -felt hat unperceived, the viscount and I arrived without obstacle in -the third cellar, between the set piece and the scene from the Roi de -Lahore. I worked the stone, and we jumped into the house which Erik -had built himself in the double case of the foundation-walls of the -Opera. And this was the easiest thing in the world for him to do, -because Erik was one of the chief contractors under Philippe Garnier, -the architect of the Opera, and continued to work by himself when the -works were officially suspended, during the war, the siege of Paris and -the Commune. -</P> - -<P> -I knew my Erik too well to feel at all comfortable on jumping into his -house. I knew what he had made of a certain palace at Mazenderan. -From being the most honest building conceivable, he soon turned it into -a house of the very devil, where you could not utter a word but it was -overheard or repeated by an echo. With his trap-doors the monster was -responsible for endless tragedies of all kinds. He hit upon -astonishing inventions. Of these, the most curious, horrible and -dangerous was the so-called torture-chamber. Except in special cases, -when the little sultana amused herself by inflicting suffering upon -some unoffending citizen, no one was let into it but wretches condemned -to death. And, even then, when these had "had enough," they were -always at liberty to put an end to themselves with a Punjab lasso or -bowstring, left for their use at the foot of an iron tree. -</P> - -<P> -My alarm, therefore, was great when I saw that the room into which M. -le Vicomte de Chagny and I had dropped was an exact copy of the -torture-chamber of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. At our feet, I found -the Punjab lasso which I had been dreading all the evening. I was -convinced that this rope had already done duty for Joseph Buquet, who, -like myself, must have caught Erik one evening working the stone in the -third cellar. He probably tried it in his turn, fell into the -torture-chamber and only left it hanged. I can well imagine Erik -dragging the body, in order to get rid of it, to the scene from the Roi -de Lahore, and hanging it there as an example, or to increase the -superstitious terror that was to help him in guarding the approaches to -his lair! Then, upon reflection, Erik went back to fetch the Punjab -lasso, which is very curiously made out of catgut, and which might have -set an examining magistrate thinking. This explains the disappearance -of the rope. -</P> - -<P> -And now I discovered the lasso, at our feet, in the torture-chamber! -... I am no coward, but a cold sweat covered my forehead as I moved -the little red disk of my lantern over the walls. -</P> - -<P> -M. de Chagny noticed it and asked: -</P> - -<P> -"What is the matter, sir?" -</P> - -<P> -I made him a violent sign to be silent. -</P> - -<BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[1] An official report from Tonkin, received in Paris at the end of -July, 1909, relates how the famous pirate chief De Tham was tracked, -together with his men, by our soldiers; and how all of them succeeded -in escaping, thanks to this trick of the reeds. -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[2] DAROGA is Persian for chief of police. -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[3] The Persian might easily have admitted that Erik's fate also -interested himself, for he was well aware that, if the government of -Teheran had learned that Erik was still alive, it would have been all -up with the modest pension of the erstwhile daroga. It is only fair, -however, to add that the Persian had a noble and generous heart; and I -do not doubt for a moment that the catastrophes which he feared for -others greatly occupied his mind. His conduct, throughout this -business, proves it and is above all praise. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap22"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XXII In the Torture Chamber -</H3> - -<H3> -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED -</H3> - -<P> -We were in the middle of a little six-cornered room, the sides of which -were covered with mirrors from top to bottom. In the corners, we could -clearly see the "joins" in the glasses, the segments intended to turn -on their gear; yes, I recognized them and I recognized the iron tree in -the corner, at the bottom of one of those segments ... the iron tree, -with its iron branch, for the hanged men. -</P> - -<P> -I seized my companion's arm: the Vicomte de Chagny was all a-quiver, -eager to shout to his betrothed that he was bringing her help. I -feared that he would not be able to contain himself. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, we heard a noise on our left. It sounded at first like a -door opening and shutting in the next room; and then there was a dull -moan. I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still; and then we -distinctly heard these words: -</P> - -<P> -"You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!" I -recognized the voice of the monster. -</P> - -<P> -There was another moan, followed by a long silence. -</P> - -<P> -I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence in -his house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not to let us -hear him. He would only have had to close the little invisible window -through which the torture-lovers look down into the torture-chamber. -Besides, I was certain that, if he had known of our presence, the -tortures would have begun at once. -</P> - -<P> -The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded nothing so -much as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny, who wanted to rush -through the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans we continued to hear -at intervals. -</P> - -<P> -"The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed, "whereas -the wedding mass—you can take my word for it—is magnificent! You -must take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go on living -like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant is finished; -and now I want to live like everybody else. I want to have a wife like -everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a mask -that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round in -the streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all -by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You -are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you -shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me I -should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that -you pleased." -</P> - -<P> -Soon the moans that accompanied this sort of love's litany increased -and increased. I have never heard anything more despairing; and M. de -Chagny and I recognized that this terrible lamentation came from Erik -himself. Christine seemed to be standing dumb with horror, without the -strength to cry out, while the monster was on his knees before her. -</P> - -<P> -Three times over, Erik fiercely bewailed his fate: -</P> - -<P> -"You don't love me! You don't love me! You don't love me!" -</P> - -<P> -And then, more gently: -</P> - -<P> -"Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!" -</P> - -<P> -A silence. -</P> - -<P> -Each silence gave us fresh hope. We said to ourselves: -</P> - -<P> -"Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall." -</P> - -<P> -And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae of our -presence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave the -torture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us; and it was -only on this condition that we could hope to help her, for we did not -even know where the door might be. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing of -an electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall and -Erik's voice of thunder: -</P> - -<P> -"Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!" -</P> - -<P> -A sinister chuckle. -</P> - -<P> -"Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here ... I AM GOING TO TELL -THE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR." -</P> - -<P> -Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the fresh -horror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going out -perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing: -Christine was alone behind the wall! -</P> - -<P> -The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her: -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was no reason -why my companion should not be heard in his turn. Nevertheless, the -viscount had to repeat his cry time after time. -</P> - -<P> -At last, a faint voice reached us. -</P> - -<P> -"I am dreaming!" it said. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul!" -</P> - -<P> -A silence. -</P> - -<P> -"But answer me, Christine! ... In Heaven's name, if you are alone, -answer me!" -</P> - -<P> -Then Christine's voice whispered Raoul's name. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes! Yes! It is I! It is not a dream! ... Christine, trust me! ... -We are here to save you ... but be prudent! When you hear the monster, -warn us!" -</P> - -<P> -Then Christine gave way to fear. She trembled lest Erik should -discover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words -that Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO KILL -EVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent to become -his wife. He had given her till eleven o'clock the next evening for -reflection. It was the last respite. She must choose, as he said, -between the wedding mass and the requiem. -</P> - -<P> -And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not quite -understand: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" -</P> - -<P> -But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded in a -terrible manner with my own dreadful thought. -</P> - -<P> -"Can you tell us where Erik is?" I asked. -</P> - -<P> -She replied that he must have left the house. -</P> - -<P> -"Could you make sure?" -</P> - -<P> -"No. I am fastened. I can not stir a limb." -</P> - -<P> -When we heard this, M. de Chagny and I gave a yell of fury. Our -safety, the safety of all three of us, depended on the girl's liberty -of movement. -</P> - -<P> -"But where are you?" asked Christine. "There are only two doors in my -room, the Louis-Philippe room of which I told you, Raoul; a door -through which Erik comes and goes, and another which he has never -opened before me and which he has forbidden me ever to go through, -because he says it is the most dangerous of the doors, the door of the -torture-chamber!" -</P> - -<P> -"Christine, that is where we are!" -</P> - -<P> -"You are in the torture-chamber?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, but we can not see the door." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, if I could only drag myself so far! I would knock at the door and -that would tell you where it is." -</P> - -<P> -"Is it a door with a lock to it?" I asked. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, with a lock." -</P> - -<P> -"Mademoiselle," I said, "it is absolutely necessary, that you should -open that door to us!" -</P> - -<P> -"But how?" asked the poor girl tearfully. -</P> - -<P> -We heard her straining, trying to free herself from the bonds that held -her. -</P> - -<P> -"I know where the key is," she said, in a voice that seemed exhausted -by the effort she had made. "But I am fastened so tight ... Oh, the -wretch!" -</P> - -<P> -And she gave a sob. -</P> - -<P> -"Where is the key?" I asked, signing to M. de Chagny not to speak and -to leave the business to me, for we had not a moment to lose. -</P> - -<P> -"In the next room, near the organ, with another little bronze key, -which he also forbade me to touch. They are both in a little leather -bag which he calls the bag of life and death... Raoul! Raoul! Fly! -Everything is mysterious and terrible here, and Erik will soon have -gone quite mad, and you are in the torture-chamber! ... Go back by the -way you came. There must be a reason why the room is called by that -name!" -</P> - -<P> -"Christine," said the young man. "We will go from here together or die -together!" -</P> - -<P> -"We must keep cool," I whispered. "Why has he fastened you, -mademoiselle? You can't escape from his house; and he knows it!" -</P> - -<P> -"I tried to commit suicide! The monster went out last night, after -carrying me here fainting and half chloroformed. He was going TO HIS -BANKER, so he said! ... When he returned he found me with my face -covered with blood ... I had tried to kill myself by striking my -forehead against the walls." -</P> - -<P> -"Christine!" groaned Raoul; and he began to sob. -</P> - -<P> -"Then he bound me ... I am not allowed to die until eleven o'clock -to-morrow evening." -</P> - -<P> -"Mademoiselle," I declared, "the monster bound you ... and he shall -unbind you. You have only to play the necessary part! Remember that -he loves you!" -</P> - -<P> -"Alas!" we heard. "Am I likely to forget it!" -</P> - -<P> -"Remember it and smile to him ... entreat him ... tell him that your -bonds hurt you." -</P> - -<P> -But Christine Daae said: -</P> - -<P> -"Hush! ... I hear something in the wall on the lake! ... It is he! ... -Go away! Go away! Go away!" -</P> - -<P> -"We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressively -as I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in the -torture-chamber!" -</P> - -<P> -"Hush!" whispered Christine again. -</P> - -<P> -Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made the -floor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by a cry -of horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice: -</P> - -<P> -"I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! What a state -I am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! Why did he ring? Do I -ask people who pass to tell me the time? He will never ask anybody the -time again! It is the siren's fault." -</P> - -<P CLASS="noindent"> -[Illustration: two page color illustration] -</P> - -<P> -Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmal -depths of a soul. -</P> - -<P> -"Why did you cry out, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"Because I am in pain, Erik." -</P> - -<P> -"I thought I had frightened you." -</P> - -<P> -"Erik, unloose my bonds ... Am I not your prisoner?" -</P> - -<P> -"You will try to kill yourself again." -</P> - -<P> -"You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik." -</P> - -<P> -The footsteps dragged along the floor again. -</P> - -<P> -"After all, as we are to die together ... and I am just as eager as you -... yes, I have had enough of this life, you know... Wait, don't move, -I will release you ... You have only one word to say: 'NO!' And it -will at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! ... You are right, you are right; -why wait till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening? True, it would have -been grander, finer ... But that is childish nonsense ... We should -only think of ourselves in this life, of our own death ... the rest -doesn't matter... YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET? ... Oh, -my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside! ... Apart from that, -Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations ... You know, the -man who rang at the siren's door just now—go and look if he's ringing -at the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like... There, turn -round ... are you glad? You're free now... Oh, my poor Christine, -look at your wrists: tell me, have I hurt them? ... That alone -deserves death ... Talking of death, I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!" -</P> - -<P> -Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment ... I -too had once rung at the monster's door ... and, without knowing it, -must have set some warning current in motion. -</P> - -<P> -And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters... -What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? Who was 'the -other one,' the one whose requiem we now heard sung? -</P> - -<P> -Erik sang like the god of thunder, sang a DIES IRAE that enveloped us -as in a storm. The elements seemed to rage around us. Suddenly, the -organ and the voice ceased so suddenly that M. de Chagny sprang back, -on the other side of the wall, with emotion. And the voice, changed -and transformed, distinctly grated out these metallic syllables: "WHAT -HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG?" -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap23"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XXIII The Tortures Begin -</H3> - -<H3> -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. -</H3> - -<P> -The voice repeated angrily: "What have you done with my bag? So it -was to take my bag that you asked me to release you!" -</P> - -<P> -We heard hurried steps, Christine running back to the Louis-Philippe -room, as though to seek shelter on the other side of our wall. -</P> - -<P> -"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, which had -followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? Don't you know that it -is the bag of life and death?" -</P> - -<P> -"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we are -to live together ... what difference can it make to you?" -</P> - -<P> -"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. "What do -you want to do?" -</P> - -<P> -"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you have -always kept from me ... It's woman's curiosity!" she said, in a tone -which she tried to render playful. -</P> - -<P> -But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it. -</P> - -<P> -"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better remember -the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful ... Come, give me back my bag! -... Give me back my bag! ... Leave the key alone, will you, you -inquisitive little thing?" -</P> - -<P> -And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had -evidently recovered the bag from her. -</P> - -<P> -At that moment, the viscount could not help uttering an exclamation of -impotent rage. -</P> - -<P> -"Why, what's that?" said the monster. "Did you hear, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, no," replied the poor girl. "I heard nothing." -</P> - -<P> -"I thought I heard a cry." -</P> - -<P> -"A cry! Are you going mad, Erik? Whom do you expect to give a cry, in -this house? ... I cried out, because you hurt me! I heard nothing." -</P> - -<P> -"I don't like the way you said that! ... You're trembling... You're -quite excited ... You're lying! ... That was a cry, there was a cry! -... There is some one in the torture-chamber! ... Ah, I understand -now!" -</P> - -<P> -"There is no one there, Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -"I understand!" -</P> - -<P> -"No one!" -</P> - -<P> -"The man you want to marry, perhaps!" -</P> - -<P> -"I don't want to marry anybody, you know I don't." -</P> - -<P> -Another nasty chuckle. "Well, it won't take long to find out. -Christine, my love, we need not open the door to see what is happening -in the torture-chamber. Would you like to see? Would you like to see? -Look here! If there is some one, if there is really some one there, -you will see the invisible window light up at the top, near the -ceiling. We need only draw the black curtain and put out the light in -here. There, that's it ... Let's put out the light! You're not -afraid of the dark, when you're with your little husband!" -</P> - -<P> -Then we heard Christine's voice of anguish: -</P> - -<P> -"No! ... I'm frightened! ... I tell you, I'm afraid of the dark! ... I -don't care about that room now ... You're always frightening me, like -a child, with your torture-chamber! ... And so I became inquisitive... -But I don't care about it now ... not a bit ... not a bit!" -</P> - -<P> -And that which I feared above all things began, AUTOMATICALLY. We were -suddenly flooded with light! Yes, on our side of the wall, everything -seemed aglow. The Vicomte de Chagny was so much taken aback that he -staggered. And the angry voice roared: -</P> - -<P> -"I told you there was some one! Do you see the window now? The -lighted window, right up there? The man behind the wall can't see it! -But you shall go up the folding steps: that is what they are there -for! ... You have often asked me to tell you; and now you know! ... -They are there to give a peep into the torture-chamber ... you -inquisitive little thing!" -</P> - -<P> -"What tortures? ... Who is being tortured? ... Erik, Erik, say you are -only trying to frighten me! ... Say it, if you love me, Erik! ... There -are no tortures, are there?" -</P> - -<P> -"Go and look at the little window, dear!" -</P> - -<P> -I do not know if the viscount heard the girl's swooning voice, for he -was too much occupied by the astounding spectacle that now appeared -before his distracted gaze. As for me, I had seen that sight too -often, through the little window, at the time of the rosy hours of -Mazenderan; and I cared only for what was being said next door, seeking -for a hint how to act, what resolution to take. -</P> - -<P> -"Go and peep through the little window! Tell me what he looks like!" -</P> - -<P> -We heard the steps being dragged against the wall. -</P> - -<P> -"Up with you! ... No! ... No, I will go up myself, dear!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, very well, I will go up. Let me go!" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, my darling, my darling! ... How sweet of you! ... How nice of you -to save me the exertion at my age! ... Tell me what he looks like!" -</P> - -<P> -At that moment, we distinctly heard these words above our heads: -</P> - -<P> -"There is no one there, dear!" -</P> - -<P> -"No one? ... Are you sure there is no one?" -</P> - -<P> -"Why, of course not ... no one!" -</P> - -<P> -"Well, that's all right! ... What's the matter, Christine? You're not -going to faint, are you ... as there is no one there? ... Here ... -come down ... there! ... Pull yourself together ... as there is no one -there! ... BUT HOW DO YOU LIKE THE LANDSCAPE?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, very much!" -</P> - -<P> -"There, that's better! ... You're better now, are you not? ... That's -all right, you're better! ... No excitement! ... And what a funny -house, isn't it, with landscapes like that in it?" -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, it's like the Musee Grevin ... But, say, Erik ... there are no -tortures in there! ... What a fright you gave me!" -</P> - -<P> -"Why ... as there is no one there?" -</P> - -<P> -"Did you design that room? It's very handsome. You're a great artist, -Erik." -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, a great artist, in my own line." -</P> - -<P> -"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?" -</P> - -<P> -"I saw a forest." -</P> - -<P> -"And what is in a forest?" -</P> - -<P> -"Trees." -</P> - -<P> -"And what is in a tree?" -</P> - -<P> -"Birds." -</P> - -<P> -"Did you see any birds?" -</P> - -<P> -"No, I did not see any birds." -</P> - -<P> -"Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are the -branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET! That is why I -call my wood the torture-chamber! ... You see, it's all a joke. I -never express myself like other people. But I am very tired of it! ... -I'm sick and tired of having a forest and a torture-chamber in my house -and of living like a mountebank, in a house with a false bottom! ... -I'm tired of it! I want to have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary -doors and windows and a wife inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom -I could love and take out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days ... -Here, shall I show you some card-tricks? That will help us to pass a -few minutes, while waiting for eleven o'clock to-morrow evening ... My -dear little Christine! ... Are you listening to me? ... Tell me you -love me! ... No, you don't love me ... but no matter, you will! ... -Once, you could not look at my mask because you knew what was behind... -And now you don't mind looking at it and you forget what is behind! ... -One can get used to everything ... if one wishes... Plenty of young -people who did not care for each other before marriage have adored each -other since! Oh, I don't know what I am talking about! But you would -have lots of fun with me. For instance, I am the greatest -ventriloquist that ever lived, I am the first ventriloquist in the -world! ... You're laughing ... Perhaps you don't believe me? Listen." -</P> - -<P> -The wretch, who really was the first ventriloquist in the world, was -only trying to divert the child's attention from the torture-chamber; -but it was a stupid scheme, for Christine thought of nothing but us! -She repeatedly besought him, in the gentlest tones which she could -assume: -</P> - -<P> -"Put out the light in the little window! ... Erik, do put out the light -in the little window!" -</P> - -<P> -For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of which -the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean something -terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment; and that was -seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst of that resplendent -light, alive and well. But she would certainly have felt much easier -if the light had been put out. -</P> - -<P> -Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. He -said: -</P> - -<P> -"Here, I raise my mask a little ... Oh, only a little! ... You see my -lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving! ... My mouth is -closed—such mouth as I have—and yet you hear my voice... Where will -you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? In the table? In -those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece? ... Listen, dear, it's in -the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: what does it say? -'SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?' ... And now, crack! What does it say in -the little box on the left? 'SHALL I TURN THE GRASSHOPPER?' ... And -now, crack! Here it is in the little leather bag ... What does it -say? 'I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE AND DEATH!' ... And now, crack! It -is in Carlotta's throat, in Carlotta's golden throat, in Carlotta's -crystal throat, as I live! What does it say? It says, 'It's I, Mr. -Toad, it's I singing! I FEEL WITHOUT ALARM—CO-ACK—WITH ITS MELODY -ENWIND ME—CO-ACK!' ... And now, crack! It is on a chair in the -ghost's box and it says, 'MADAME CARLOTTA IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING -THE CHANDELIER DOWN!' ... And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik's voice -now? Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of -the torture-chamber! Listen! It's myself in the torture-chamber! And -what do I say? I say, 'Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, and -come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!'" -</P> - -<P> -Oh, the ventriloquist's terrible voice! It was everywhere, everywhere. -It passed through the little invisible window, through the walls. It -ran around us, between us. Erik was there, speaking to us! We made a -movement as though to fling ourselves upon him. But, already, swifter, -more fleeting than the voice of the echo, Erik's voice had leaped back -behind the wall! -</P> - -<P> -Soon we heard nothing more at all, for this is what happened: -</P> - -<P> -"Erik! Erik!" said Christine's voice. "You tire me with your voice. -Don't go on, Erik! Isn't it very hot here?" -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, yes," replied Erik's voice, "the heat is unendurable!" -</P> - -<P> -"But what does this mean? ... The wall is really getting quite hot! ... -The wall is burning!" -</P> - -<P> -"I'll tell you, Christine, dear: it is because of the forest next -door." -</P> - -<P> -"Well, what has that to do with it? The forest?" -</P> - -<P> -"WHY, DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WAS AN AFRICAN FOREST?" -</P> - -<P> -And the monster laughed so loudly and hideously that we could no longer -distinguish Christine's supplicating cries! The Vicomte de Chagny -shouted and banged against the walls like a madman. I could not -restrain him. But we heard nothing except the monster's laughter, and -the monster himself can have heard nothing else. And then there was -the sound of a body falling on the floor and being dragged along and a -door slammed and then nothing, nothing more around us save the -scorching silence of the south in the heart of a tropical forest! -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap24"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XXIV "Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any Barrels to Sell?" -</H3> - -<H3> -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED -</H3> - -<P> -I have said that the room in which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I were -imprisoned was a regular hexagon, lined entirely with mirrors. Plenty -of these rooms have been seen since, mainly at exhibitions: they are -called "palaces of illusion," or some such name. But the invention -belongs entirely to Erik, who built the first room of this kind under -my eyes, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. A decorative -object, such as a column, for instance, was placed in one of the -corners and immediately produced a hall of a thousand columns; for, -thanks to the mirrors, the real room was multiplied by six hexagonal -rooms, each of which, in its turn, was multiplied indefinitely. But -the little sultana soon tired of this infantile illusion, whereupon -Erik altered his invention into a "torture-chamber." For the -architectural motive placed in one corner, he substituted an iron tree. -This tree, with its painted leaves, was absolutely true to life and was -made of iron so as to resist all the attacks of the "patient" who was -locked into the torture-chamber. We shall see how the scene thus -obtained was twice altered instantaneously into two successive other -scenes, by means of the automatic rotation of the drums or rollers in -the corners. These were divided into three sections, fitting into the -angles of the mirrors and each supporting a decorative scheme that came -into sight as the roller revolved upon its axis. -</P> - -<P> -The walls of this strange room gave the patient nothing to lay hold of, -because, apart from the solid decorative object, they were simply -furnished with mirrors, thick enough to withstand any onslaught of the -victim, who was flung into the chamber empty-handed and barefoot. -</P> - -<P> -There was no furniture. The ceiling was capable of being lit up. An -ingenious system of electric heating, which has since been imitated, -allowed the temperature of the walls and room to be increased at will. -</P> - -<P> -I am giving all these details of a perfectly natural invention, -producing, with a few painted branches, the supernatural illusion of an -equatorial forest blazing under the tropical sun, so that no one may -doubt the present balance of my brain or feel entitled to say that I am -mad or lying or that I take him for a fool.[1] -</P> - -<P> -I now return to the facts where I left them. When the ceiling lit up -and the forest became visible around us, the viscount's stupefaction -was immense. That impenetrable forest, with its innumerable trunks and -branches, threw him into a terrible state of consternation. He passed -his hands over his forehead, as though to drive away a dream; his eyes -blinked; and, for a moment, he forgot to listen. -</P> - -<P> -I have already said that the sight of the forest did not surprise me at -all; and therefore I listened for the two of us to what was happening -next door. Lastly, my attention was especially attracted, not so much -to the scene, as to the mirrors that produced it. These mirrors were -broken in parts. Yes, they were marked and scratched; they had been -"starred," in spite of their solidity; and this proved to me that the -torture-chamber in which we now were HAD ALREADY SERVED A PURPOSE. -</P> - -<P> -Yes, some wretch, whose feet were not bare like those of the victims of -the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had certainly fallen into this "mortal -illusion" and, mad with rage, had kicked against those mirrors which, -nevertheless, continued to reflect his agony. And the branch of the -tree on which he had put an end to his own sufferings was arranged in -such a way that, before dying, he had seen, for his last consolation, a -thousand men writhing in his company. -</P> - -<P> -Yes, Joseph Buquet had undoubtedly been through all this! Were we to -die as he had done? I did not think so, for I knew that we had a few -hours before us and that I could employ them to better purpose than -Joseph Buquet was able to do. After all, I was thoroughly acquainted -with most of Erik's "tricks;" and now or never was the time to turn my -knowledge to account. -</P> - -<P> -To begin with, I gave up every idea of returning to the passage that -had brought us to that accursed chamber. I did not trouble about the -possibility of working the inside stone that closed the passage; and -this for the simple reason that to do so was out of the question. We -had dropped from too great a height into the torture-chamber; there was -no furniture to help us reach that passage; not even the branch of the -iron tree, not even each other's shoulders were of any avail. -</P> - -<P> -There was only one possible outlet, that opening into the -Louis-Philippe room in which Erik and Christine Daae were. But, though -this outlet looked like an ordinary door on Christine's side, it was -absolutely invisible to us. We must therefore try to open it without -even knowing where it was. -</P> - -<P> -When I was quite sure that there was no hope for us from Christine -Daae's side, when I had heard the monster dragging the poor girl from -the Louis-Philippe room LEST SHE SHOULD INTERFERE WITH OUR TORTURES, I -resolved to set to work without delay. -</P> - -<P> -But I had first to calm M. de Chagny, who was already walking about -like a madman, uttering incoherent cries. The snatches of conversation -which he had caught between Christine and the monster had contributed -not a little to drive him beside himself: add to that the shock of the -magic forest and the scorching heat which was beginning to make the -prespiration{sic} stream down his temples and you will have no -difficulty in understanding his state of mind. He shouted Christine's -name, brandished his pistol, knocked his forehead against the glass in -his endeavors to run down the glades of the illusive forest. In short, -the torture was beginning to work its spell upon a brain unprepared for -it. -</P> - -<P> -I did my best to induce the poor viscount to listen to reason. I made -him touch the mirrors and the iron tree and the branches and explained -to him, by optical laws, all the luminous imagery by which we were -surrounded and of which we need not allow ourselves to be the victims, -like ordinary, ignorant people. -</P> - -<P> -"We are in a room, a little room; that is what you must keep saying to -yourself. And we shall leave the room as soon as we have found the -door." -</P> - -<P> -And I promised him that, if he let me act, without disturbing me by -shouting and walking up and down, I would discover the trick of the -door in less than an hour's time. -</P> - -<P> -Then he lay flat on the floor, as one does in a wood, and declared that -he would wait until I found the door of the forest, as there was -nothing better to do! And he added that, from where he was, "the view -was splendid!" The torture was working, in spite of all that I had -said. -</P> - -<P> -Myself, forgetting the forest, I tackled a glass panel and began to -finger it in every direction, hunting for the weak point on which to -press in order to turn the door in accordance with Erik's system of -pivots. This weak point might be a mere speck on the glass, no larger -than a pea, under which the spring lay hidden. I hunted and hunted. I -felt as high as my hands could reach. Erik was about the same height -as myself and I thought that he would not have placed the spring higher -than suited his stature. -</P> - -<P> -While groping over the successive panels with the greatest care, I -endeavored not to lose a minute, for I was feeling more and more -overcome with the heat and we were literally roasting in that blazing -forest. -</P> - -<P> -I had been working like this for half an hour and had finished three -panels, when, as ill-luck would have it, I turned round on hearing a -muttered exclamation from the viscount. -</P> - -<P> -"I am stifling," he said. "All those mirrors are sending out an -infernal heat! Do you think you will find that spring soon? If you -are much longer about it, we shall be roasted alive!" -</P> - -<P> -I was not sorry to hear him talk like this. He had not said a word of -the forest and I hoped that my companion's reason would hold out some -time longer against the torture. But he added: -</P> - -<P> -"What consoles me is that the monster has given Christine until eleven -to-morrow evening. If we can't get out of here and go to her -assistance, at least we shall be dead before her! Then Erik's mass can -serve for all of us!" -</P> - -<P> -And he gulped down a breath of hot air that nearly made him faint. -</P> - -<P> -As I had not the same desperate reasons as M. le Vicomte for accepting -death, I returned, after giving him a word of encouragement, to my -panel, but I had made the mistake of taking a few steps while speaking -and, in the tangle of the illusive forest, I was no longer able to find -my panel for certain! I had to begin all over again, at random, -feeling, fumbling, groping. -</P> - -<P> -Now the fever laid hold of me in my turn ... for I found nothing, -absolutely nothing. In the next room, all was silence. We were quite -lost in the forest, without an outlet, a compass, a guide or anything. -Oh, I knew what awaited us if nobody came to our aid ... or if I did -not find the spring! But, look as I might, I found nothing but -branches, beautiful branches that stood straight up before me, or -spread gracefully over my head. But they gave no shade. And this was -natural enough, as we were in an equatorial forest, with the sun right -above our heads, an African forest. -</P> - -<P> -M. de Chagny and I had repeatedly taken off our coats and put them on -again, finding at one time that they made us feel still hotter and at -another that they protected us against the heat. I was still making a -moral resistance, but M. de Chagny seemed to me quite "gone." He -pretended that he had been walking in that forest for three days and -nights, without stopping, looking for Christine Daae! From time to -time, he thought he saw her behind the trunk of a tree, or gliding -between the branches; and he called to her with words of supplication -that brought the tears to my eyes. And then, at last: -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, how thirsty I am!" he cried, in delirious accents. -</P> - -<P> -I too was thirsty. My throat was on fire. And, yet, squatting on the -floor, I went on hunting, hunting, hunting for the spring of the -invisible door ... especially as it was dangerous to remain in the -forest as evening drew nigh. Already the shades of night were -beginning to surround us. It had happened very quickly: night falls -quickly in tropical countries ... suddenly, with hardly any twilight. -</P> - -<P> -Now night, in the forests of the equator, is always dangerous, -particularly when, like ourselves, one has not the materials for a fire -to keep off the beasts of prey. I did indeed try for a moment to break -off the branches, which I would have lit with my dark lantern, but I -knocked myself also against the mirrors and remembered, in time, that -we had only images of branches to do with. -</P> - -<P> -The heat did not go with the daylight; on the contrary, it was now -still hotter under the blue rays of the moon. I urged the viscount to -hold our weapons ready to fire and not to stray from camp, while I went -on looking for my spring. -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, we heard a lion roaring a few yards away. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh," whispered the viscount, "he is quite close! ... Don't you see -him? ... There ... through the trees ... in that thicket! If he roars -again, I will fire! ..." -</P> - -<P> -And the roaring began again, louder than before. And the viscount -fired, but I do not think that he hit the lion; only, he smashed a -mirror, as I perceived the next morning, at daybreak. We must have -covered a good distance during the night, for we suddenly found -ourselves on the edge of the desert, an immense desert of sand, stones -and rocks. It was really not worth while leaving the forest to come -upon the desert. Tired out, I flung myself down beside the viscount, -for I had had enough of looking for springs which I could not find. -</P> - -<P> -I was quite surprised—and I said so to the viscount—that we had -encountered no other dangerous animals during the night. Usually, -after the lion came the leopard and sometimes the buzz of the tsetse -fly. These were easily obtained effects; and I explained to M. de -Chagny that Erik imitated the roar of a lion on a long tabour or -timbrel, with an ass's skin at one end. Over this skin he tied a -string of catgut, which was fastened at the middle to another similar -string passing through the whole length of the tabour. Erik had only -to rub this string with a glove smeared with resin and, according to -the manner in which he rubbed it, he imitated to perfection the voice -of the lion or the leopard, or even the buzzing of the tsetse fly. -</P> - -<P> -The idea that Erik was probably in the room beside us, working his -trick, made me suddenly resolve to enter into a parley with him, for we -must obviously give up all thought of taking him by surprise. And by -this time he must be quite aware who were the occupants of his -torture-chamber. I called him: "Erik! Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -I shouted as loudly as I could across the desert, but there was no -answer to my voice. All around us lay the silence and the bare -immensity of that stony desert. What was to become of us in the midst -of that awful solitude? -</P> - -<P> -We were beginning literally to die of heat, hunger and thirst ... of -thirst especially. At last, I saw M. de Chagny raise himself on his -elbow and point to a spot on the horizon. He had discovered an oasis! -</P> - -<P> -Yes, far in the distance was an oasis ... an oasis with limpid water, -which reflected the iron trees! ... Tush, it was the scene of the -mirage ... I recognized it at once ... the worst of the three! ... No -one had been able to fight against it ... no one... I did my utmost to -keep my head AND NOT TO HOPE FOR WATER, because I knew that, if a man -hoped for water, the water that reflected the iron tree, and if, after -hoping for water, he struck against the mirror, then there was only one -thing for him to do: to hang himself on the iron tree! -</P> - -<P> -So I cried to M. de Chagny: -</P> - -<P> -"It's the mirage! ... It's the mirage! ... Don't believe in the water! -... It's another trick of the mirrors! ..." -</P> - -<P> -Then he flatly told me to shut up, with my tricks of the mirrors, my -springs, my revolving doors and my palaces of illusions! He angrily -declared that I must be either blind or mad to imagine that all that -water flowing over there, among those splendid, numberless trees, was -not real water! ... And the desert was real! ... And so was the -forest! ... And it was no use trying to take him in ... he was an old, -experienced traveler ... he had been all over the place! -</P> - -<P> -And he dragged himself along, saying: "Water! Water!" -</P> - -<P> -And his mouth was open, as though he were drinking. -</P> - -<P> -And my mouth was open too, as though I were drinking. -</P> - -<P> -For we not only saw the water, but WE HEARD IT! ... We heard it flow, -we heard it ripple! ... Do you understand that word "ripple?" ... IT IS -A SOUND WHICH YOU HEAR WITH YOUR TONGUE! ... You put your tongue out -of your mouth to listen to it better! -</P> - -<P> -Lastly—and this was the most pitiless torture of all—we heard the -rain and it was not raining! This was an infernal invention... Oh, I -knew well enough how Erik obtained it! He filled with little stones a -very long and narrow box, broken up inside with wooden and metal -projections. The stones, in falling, struck against these projections -and rebounded from one to another; and the result was a series of -pattering sounds that exactly imitated a rainstorm. -</P> - -<P> -Ah, you should have seen us putting out our tongues and dragging -ourselves toward the rippling river-bank! Our eyes and ears were full -of water, but our tongues were hard and dry as horn! -</P> - -<P> -When we reached the mirror, M. de Chagny licked it ... and I also -licked the glass. -</P> - -<P> -It was burning hot! -</P> - -<P> -Then we rolled on the floor with a hoarse cry of despair. M. de Chagny -put the one pistol that was still loaded to his temple; and I stared at -the Punjab lasso at the foot of the iron tree. I knew why the iron -tree had returned, in this third change of scene! ... The iron tree -was waiting for me! ... -</P> - -<P> -But, as I stared at the Punjab lasso, I saw a thing that made me start -so violently that M. de Chagny delayed his attempt at suicide. I took -his arm. And then I caught the pistol from him ... and then I dragged -myself on my knees toward what I had seen. -</P> - -<P> -I had discovered, near the Punjab lasso, in a groove in the floor, a -black-headed nail of which I knew the use. At last I had discovered -the spring! I felt the nail ... I lifted a radiant face to M. de -Chagny ... The black-headed nail yielded to my pressure ... -</P> - -<P> -And then ... -</P> - -<P> -And then we saw not a door opened in the wall, but a cellar-flap -released in the floor. Cool air came up to us from the black hole -below. We stooped over that square of darkness as though over a limpid -well. With our chins in the cool shade, we drank it in. And we bent -lower and lower over the trap-door. What could there be in that cellar -which opened before us? Water? Water to drink? -</P> - -<P> -I thrust my arm into the darkness and came upon a stone and another -stone ... a staircase ... a dark staircase leading into the cellar. -The viscount wanted to fling himself down the hole; but I, fearing a -new trick of the monster's, stopped him, turned on my dark lantern and -went down first. -</P> - -<P> -The staircase was a winding one and led down into pitchy darkness. But -oh, how deliciously cool were the darkness and the stairs? The lake -could not be far away. -</P> - -<P> -We soon reached the bottom. Our eyes were beginning to accustom -themselves to the dark, to distinguish shapes around us ... circular -shapes ... on which I turned the light of my lantern. -</P> - -<P> -Barrels! -</P> - -<P> -We were in Erik's cellar: it was here that he must keep his wine and -perhaps his drinking-water. I knew that Erik was a great lover of good -wine. Ah, there was plenty to drink here! -</P> - -<P> -M. de Chagny patted the round shapes and kept on saying: -</P> - -<P> -"Barrels! Barrels! What a lot of barrels! ..." -</P> - -<P> -Indeed, there was quite a number of them, symmetrically arranged in two -rows, one on either side of us. They were small barrels and I thought -that Erik must have selected them of that size to facilitate their -carriage to the house on the lake. -</P> - -<P> -We examined them successively, to see if one of them had not a funnel, -showing that it had been tapped at some time or another. But all the -barrels were hermetically closed. -</P> - -<P> -Then, after half lifting one to make sure it was full, we went on our -knees and, with the blade of a small knife which I carried, I prepared -to stave in the bung-hole. -</P> - -<P> -At that moment, I seemed to hear, coming from very far, a sort of -monotonous chant which I knew well, from often hearing it in the -streets of Paris: -</P> - -<P> -"Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any barrels to sell?" -</P> - -<P> -My hand desisted from its work. M. de Chagny had also heard. He said: -</P> - -<P> -"That's funny! It sounds as if the barrel were singing!" -</P> - -<P> -The song was renewed, farther away: -</P> - -<P> -"Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any barrels to sell? ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, I swear," said the viscount, "that the tune dies away in the -barrel! ..." -</P> - -<P> -We stood up and went to look behind the barrel. -</P> - -<P> -"It's inside," said M. de Chagny, "it's inside!" -</P> - -<P> -But we heard nothing there and were driven to accuse the bad condition -of our senses. And we returned to the bung-hole. M. de Chagny put his -two hands together underneath it and, with a last effort, I burst the -bung. -</P> - -<P> -"What's this?" cried the viscount. "This isn't water!" -</P> - -<P> -The viscount put his two full hands close to my lantern ... I stooped -to look ... and at once threw away the lantern with such violence that -it broke and went out, leaving us in utter darkness. -</P> - -<P> -What I had seen in M. de Chagny's hands ... was gun-powder! -</P> - -<BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[1] It is very natural that, at the time when the Persian was writing, -he should take so many precautions against any spirit of incredulity on -the part of those who were likely to read his narrative. Nowadays, -when we have all seen this sort of room, his precautions would be -superfluous. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap25"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XXV The Scorpion or the Grasshopper: Which? -</H3> - -<H3> -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONCLUDED -</H3> - -<P> -The discovery flung us into a state of alarm that made us forget all -our past and present sufferings. We now knew all that the monster -meant to convey when he said to Christine Daae: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" -</P> - -<P> -Yes, buried under the ruins of the Paris Grand Opera! -</P> - -<P> -The monster had given her until eleven o'clock in the evening. He had -chosen his time well. There would be many people, many "members of the -human race," up there, in the resplendent theater. What finer retinue -could be expected for his funeral? He would go down to the tomb -escorted by the whitest shoulders in the world, decked with the richest -jewels. -</P> - -<P> -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! -</P> - -<P> -We were all to be blown up in the middle of the performance ... if -Christine Daae said no! -</P> - -<P> -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! ... -</P> - -<P> -And what else could Christine say but no? Would she not prefer to -espouse death itself rather than that living corpse? She did not know -that on her acceptance or refusal depended the awful fate of many -members of the human race! -</P> - -<P> -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! -</P> - -<P> -And we dragged ourselves through the darkness, feeling our way to the -stone steps, for the light in the trap-door overhead that led to the -room of mirrors was now extinguished; and we repeated to ourselves: -</P> - -<P> -"Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!" -</P> - -<P> -At last, I found the staircase. But, suddenly I drew myself up on the -first step, for a terrible thought had come to my mind: -</P> - -<P> -"What is the time?" -</P> - -<P> -Ah, what was the time? ... For, after all, eleven o'clock to-morrow -evening might be now, might be this very moment! Who could tell us the -time? We seemed to have been imprisoned in that hell for days and days -... for years ... since the beginning of the world. Perhaps we should -be blown up then and there! Ah, a sound! A crack! "Did you hear -that? ... There, in the corner ... good heavens! ... Like a sound of -machinery! ... Again! ... Oh, for a light! ... Perhaps it's the -machinery that is to blow everything up! ... I tell you, a cracking -sound: are you deaf?" -</P> - -<P> -M. de Chagny and I began to yell like madmen. Fear spurred us on. We -rushed up the treads of the staircase, stumbling as we went, anything -to escape the dark, to return to the mortal light of the room of -mirrors! -</P> - -<P> -We found the trap-door still open, but it was now as dark in the room -of mirrors as in the cellar which we had left. We dragged ourselves -along the floor of the torture-chamber, the floor that separated us -from the powder-magazine. What was the time? We shouted, we called: M. -de Chagny to Christine, I to Erik. I reminded him that I had saved his -life. But no answer, save that of our despair, of our madness: what -was the time? We argued, we tried to calculate the time which we had -spent there, but we were incapable of reasoning. If only we could see -the face of a watch! ... Mine had stopped, but M. de Chagny's was -still going ... He told me that he had wound it up before dressing for -the Opera ... We had not a match upon us ... And yet we must know ... -M. de Chagny broke the glass of his watch and felt the two hands... He -questioned the hands of the watch with his finger-tips, going by the -position of the ring of the watch ... Judging by the space between the -hands, he thought it might be just eleven o'clock! -</P> - -<P> -But perhaps it was not the eleven o'clock of which we stood in dread. -Perhaps we had still twelve hours before us! -</P> - -<P> -Suddenly, I exclaimed: "Hush!" -</P> - -<P> -I seemed to hear footsteps in the next room. Some one tapped against -the wall. Christine Daae's voice said: -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul! Raoul!" We were now all talking at once, on either side of -the wall. Christine sobbed; she was not sure that she would find M. de -Chagny alive. The monster had been terrible, it seemed, had done -nothing but rave, waiting for her to give him the "yes" which she -refused. And yet she had promised him that "yes," if he would take her -to the torture-chamber. But he had obstinately declined, and had -uttered hideous threats against all the members of the human race! At -last, after hours and hours of that hell, he had that moment gone out, -leaving her alone to reflect for the last time. -</P> - -<P> -"Hours and hours? What is the time now? What is the time, Christine?" -</P> - -<P> -"It is eleven o'clock! Eleven o'clock, all but five minutes!" -</P> - -<P> -"But which eleven o'clock?" -</P> - -<P> -"The eleven o'clock that is to decide life or death! ... He told me so -just before he went ... He is terrible ... He is quite mad: he tore -off his mask and his yellow eyes shot flames! ... He did nothing but -laugh! ... He said, 'I give you five minutes to spare your blushes! -Here,' he said, taking a key from the little bag of life and death, -'here is the little bronze key that opens the two ebony caskets on the -mantelpiece in the Louis-Philippe room... In one of the caskets, you -will find a scorpion, in the other, a grasshopper, both very cleverly -imitated in Japanese bronze: they will say yes or no for you. If you -turn the scorpion round, that will mean to me, when I return, that you -have said yes. The grasshopper will mean no.' And he laughed like a -drunken demon. I did nothing but beg and entreat him to give me the -key of the torture-chamber, promising to be his wife if he granted me -that request ... But he told me that there was no future need for that -key and that he was going to throw it into the lake! ... And he again -laughed like a drunken demon and left me. Oh, his last words were, -'The grasshopper! Be careful of the grasshopper! A grasshopper does -not only turn: it hops! It hops! And it hops jolly high!'" -</P> - -<P> -The five minutes had nearly elapsed and the scorpion and the -grasshopper were scratching at my brain. Nevertheless, I had -sufficient lucidity left to understand that, if the grasshopper were -turned, it would hop ... and with it many members of the human race! -There was no doubt but that the grasshopper controlled an electric -current intended to blow up the powder-magazine! -</P> - -<P> -M. de Chagny, who seemed to have recovered all his moral force from -hearing Christine's voice, explained to her, in a few hurried words, -the situation in which we and all the Opera were. He told her to turn -the scorpion at once. -</P> - -<P> -There was a pause. -</P> - -<P> -"Christine," I cried, "where are you?" -</P> - -<P> -"By the scorpion." -</P> - -<P> -"Don't touch it!" -</P> - -<P> -The idea had come to me—for I knew my Erik—that the monster had -perhaps deceived the girl once more. Perhaps it was the scorpion that -would blow everything up. After all, why wasn't he there? The five -minutes were long past ... and he was not back... Perhaps he had taken -shelter and was waiting for the explosion! ... Why had he not -returned? ... He could not really expect Christine ever to consent to -become his voluntary prey! ... Why had he not returned? -</P> - -<P> -"Don't touch the scorpion!" I said. -</P> - -<P> -"Here he comes!" cried Christine. "I hear him! Here he is!" -</P> - -<P> -We heard his steps approaching the Louis-Philippe room. He came up to -Christine, but did not speak. Then I raised my voice: -</P> - -<P> -"Erik! It is I! Do you know me?" -</P> - -<P> -With extraordinary calmness, he at once replied: -</P> - -<P> -"So you are not dead in there? Well, then, see that you keep quiet." -</P> - -<P> -I tried to speak, but he said coldly: -</P> - -<P> -"Not a word, daroga, or I shall blow everything up." And he added, -"The honor rests with mademoiselle ... Mademoiselle has not touched -the scorpion"—how deliberately he spoke!—"mademoiselle has not -touched the grasshopper"—with that composure!—"but it is not too late -to do the right thing. There, I open the caskets without a key, for I -am a trap-door lover and I open and shut what I please and as I please. -I open the little ebony caskets: mademoiselle, look at the little dears -inside. Aren't they pretty? If you turn the grasshopper, -mademoiselle, we shall all be blown up. There is enough gun-powder -under our feet to blow up a whole quarter of Paris. If you turn the -scorpion, mademoiselle, all that powder will be soaked and drowned. -Mademoiselle, to celebrate our wedding, you shall make a very handsome -present to a few hundred Parisians who are at this moment applauding a -poor masterpiece of Meyerbeer's ... you shall make them a present of -their lives ... For, with your own fair hands, you shall turn the -scorpion ... And merrily, merrily, we will be married!" -</P> - -<P> -A pause; and then: -</P> - -<P> -"If, in two minutes, mademoiselle, you have not turned the scorpion, I -shall turn the grasshopper ... and the grasshopper, I tell you, HOPS -JOLLY HIGH!" -</P> - -<P> -The terrible silence began anew. The Vicomte de Chagny, realizing that -there was nothing left to do but pray, went down on his knees and -prayed. As for me, my blood beat so fiercely that I had to take my -heart in both hands, lest it should burst. At last, we heard Erik's -voice: -</P> - -<P> -"The two minutes are past ... Good-by, mademoiselle... Hop, -grasshopper! "Erik," cried Christine, "do you swear to me, monster, do -you swear to me that the scorpion is the one to turn? -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, to hop at our wedding." -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, you see! You said, to hop!" -</P> - -<P> -"At our wedding, ingenuous child! ... The scorpion opens the ball... -But that will do! ... You won't have the scorpion? Then I turn the -grasshopper!" -</P> - -<P> -"Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -"Enough!" -</P> - -<P> -I was crying out in concert with Christine. M. de Chagny was still on -his knees, praying. -</P> - -<P> -"Erik! I have turned the scorpion!" -</P> - -<P> -Oh, the second through which we passed! -</P> - -<P> -Waiting! Waiting to find ourselves in fragments, amid the roar and the -ruins! -</P> - -<P> -Feeling something crack beneath our feet, hearing an appalling hiss -through the open trap-door, a hiss like the first sound of a rocket! -</P> - -<P> -It came softly, at first, then louder, then very loud. But it was not -the hiss of fire. It was more like the hiss of water. And now it -became a gurgling sound: "Guggle! Guggle!" -</P> - -<P> -We rushed to the trap-door. All our thirst, which vanished when the -terror came, now returned with the lapping of the water. -</P> - -<P> -The water rose in the cellar, above the barrels, the -powder-barrels—"Barrels! ... Barrels! Any barrels to sell?"—and we -went down to it with parched throats. It rose to our chins, to our -mouths. And we drank. We stood on the floor of the cellar and drank. -And we went up the stairs again in the dark, step by step, went up with -the water. -</P> - -<P> -The water came out of the cellar with us and spread over the floor of -the room. If, this went on, the whole house on the lake would be -swamped. The floor of the torture-chamber had itself become a regular -little lake, in which our feet splashed. Surely there was water enough -now! Erik must turn off the tap! -</P> - -<P> -"Erik! Erik! That is water enough for the gunpowder! Turn off the -tap! Turn off the scorpion!" -</P> - -<P> -But Erik did not reply. We heard nothing but the water rising: it was -half-way to our waists! -</P> - -<P> -"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny. "Christine! The water is up to our -knees!" -</P> - -<P> -But Christine did not reply ... We heard nothing but the water rising. -</P> - -<P> -No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one to turn -the scorpion! -</P> - -<P> -We were all alone, in the dark, with the dark water that seized us and -clasped us and froze us! -</P> - -<P> -"Erik! Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -"Christine! Christine!" -</P> - -<P> -By this time, we had lost our foothold and were spinning round in the -water, carried away by an irresistible whirl, for the water turned with -us and dashed us against the dark mirror, which thrust us back again; -and our throats, raised above the whirlpool, roared aloud. -</P> - -<P> -Were we to die here, drowned in the torture-chamber? I had never seen -that. Erik, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had never -shown me that, through the little invisible window. -</P> - -<P> -"Erik! Erik!" I cried. "I saved your life! Remember! ... You were -sentenced to death! But for me, you would be dead now! ... Erik!" -</P> - -<P> -We whirled around in the water like so much wreckage. But, suddenly, -my straying hands seized the trunk of the iron tree! I called M. de -Chagny, and we both hung to the branch of the iron tree. -</P> - -<P> -And the water rose still higher. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh! Oh! Can you remember? How much space is there between the -branch of the tree and the dome-shaped ceiling? Do try to remember! -... After all, the water may stop, it must find its level! ... There, -I think it is stopping! ... No, no, oh, horrible! ... Swim! Swim for -your life!" -</P> - -<P> -Our arms became entangled in the effort of swimming; we choked; we -fought in the dark water; already we could hardly breathe the dark air -above the dark water, the air which escaped, which we could hear -escaping through some vent-hole or other. -</P> - -<P> -"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole and then -glue our mouths to it!" -</P> - -<P> -But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! Oh, how -those glass walls slipped from under my groping fingers! ... We whirled -round again! ... We began to sink! ... One last effort! ... A last -cry: "Erik! ... Christine! ..." -</P> - -<P> -"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the -bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!" -</P> - -<P> -And, before losing consciousness entirely, I seemed to hear, between -two guggles: -</P> - -<P> -"Barrels! Barrels! Any barrels to sell?" -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap26"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Chapter XXVI The End of the Ghost's Love Story -</H3> - -<P> -The previous chapter marks the conclusion of the written narrative -which the Persian left behind him. -</P> - -<P> -Notwithstanding the horrors of a situation which seemed definitely to -abandon them to their deaths, M. de Chagny and his companion were saved -by the sublime devotion of Christine Daae. And I had the rest of the -story from the lips of the daroga himself. -</P> - -<P> -When I went to see him, he was still living in his little flat in the -Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries. He was very ill, and it -required all my ardor as an historian pledged to the truth to persuade -him to live the incredible tragedy over again for my benefit. His -faithful old servant Darius showed me in to him. The daroga received -me at a window overlooking the garden of the Tuileries. He still had -his magnificent eyes, but his poor face looked very worn. He had -shaved the whole of his head, which was usually covered with an -astrakhan cap; he was dressed in a long, plain coat and amused himself -by unconsciously twisting his thumbs inside the sleeves; but his mind -was quite clear, and he told me his story with perfect lucidity. -</P> - -<P> -It seems that, when he opened his eyes, the daroga found himself lying -on a bed. M. de Chagny was on a sofa, beside the wardrobe. An angel -and a devil were watching over them. -</P> - -<P> -After the deceptions and illusions of the torture-chamber, the -precision of the details of that quiet little middle-class room seemed -to have been invented for the express purpose of puzzling the mind of -the mortal rash enough to stray into that abode of living nightmare. -The wooden bedstead, the waxed mahogany chairs, the chest of drawers, -those brasses, the little square antimacassars carefully placed on the -backs of the chairs, the clock on the mantelpiece and the -harmless-looking ebony caskets at either end, lastly, the whatnot -filled with shells, with red pin-cushions, with mother-of-pearl boats -and an enormous ostrich-egg, the whole discreetly lighted by a shaded -lamp standing on a small round table: this collection of ugly, -peaceable, reasonable furniture, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OPERA CELLARS, -bewildered the imagination more than all the late fantastic happenings. -</P> - -<P> -And the figure of the masked man seemed all the more formidable in this -old-fashioned, neat and trim little frame. It bent down over the -Persian and said, in his ear: -</P> - -<P> -"Are you better, daroga? ... You are looking at my furniture? ... It -is all that I have left of my poor unhappy mother." -</P> - -<P> -Christine Daae did not say a word: she moved about noiselessly, like a -sister of charity, who had taken a vow of silence. She brought a cup -of cordial, or of hot tea, he did not remember which. The man in the -mask took it from her hands and gave it to the Persian. M. de Chagny -was still sleeping. -</P> - -<P> -Erik poured a drop of rum into the daroga's cup and, pointing to the -viscount, said: -</P> - -<P> -"He came to himself long before we knew if you were still alive, -daroga. He is quite well. He is asleep. We must not wake him." -</P> - -<P> -Erik left the room for a moment, and the Persian raised himself on his -elbow, looked around him and saw Christine Daae sitting by the -fireside. He spoke to her, called her, but he was still very weak and -fell back on his pillow. Christine came to him, laid her hand on his -forehead and went away again. And the Persian remembered that, as she -went, she did not give a glance at M. de Chagny, who, it is true, was -sleeping peacefully; and she sat down again in her chair by the -chimney-corner, silent as a sister of charity who had taken a vow of -silence. -</P> - -<P> -Erik returned with some little bottles which he placed on the -mantelpiece. And, again in a whisper, so as not to wake M. de Chagny, -he said to the Persian, after sitting down and feeling his pulse: -</P> - -<P> -"You are now saved, both of you. And soon I shall take you up to the -surface of the earth, TO PLEASE MY WIFE." -</P> - -<P> -Thereupon he rose, without any further explanation, and disappeared -once more. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian now looked at Christine's quiet profile under the lamp. -She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book. -There are editions of THE IMITATION that look like that. The Persian -still had in his ears the natural tone in which the other had said, "to -please my wife." Very gently, he called her again; but Christine was -wrapped up in her book and did not hear him. -</P> - -<P> -Erik returned, mixed the daroga a draft and advised him not to speak to -"his wife" again nor to any one, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUS TO -EVERYBODY'S HEALTH. -</P> - -<P> -Eventually, the Persian fell asleep, like M. de Chagny, and did not -wake until he was in his own room, nursed by his faithful Darius, who -told him that, on the night before, he was found propped against the -door of his flat, where he had been brought by a stranger, who rang the -bell before going away. -</P> - -<P> -As soon as the daroga recovered his strength and his wits, he sent to -Count Philippe's house to inquire after the viscount's health. The -answer was that the young man had not been seen and that Count Philippe -was dead. His body was found on the bank of the Opera lake, on the -Rue-Scribe side. The Persian remembered the requiem mass which he had -heard from behind the wall of the torture-chamber, and had no doubt -concerning the crime and the criminal. Knowing Erik as he did, he -easily reconstructed the tragedy. Thinking that his brother had run -away with Christine Daae, Philippe had dashed in pursuit of him along -the Brussels Road, where he knew that everything was prepared for the -elopement. Failing to find the pair, he hurried back to the Opera, -remembered Raoul's strange confidence about his fantastic rival and -learned that the viscount had made every effort to enter the cellars of -the theater and that he had disappeared, leaving his hat in the prima -donna's dressing-room beside an empty pistol-case. And the count, who -no longer entertained any doubt of his brother's madness, in his turn -darted into that infernal underground maze. This was enough, in the -Persian's eyes, to explain the discovery of the Comte de Chagny's -corpse on the shore of the lake, where the siren, Erik's siren, kept -watch. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian did not hesitate. He determined to inform the police. Now -the case was in the hands of an examining-magistrate called Faure, an -incredulous, commonplace, superficial sort of person, (I write as I -think), with a mind utterly unprepared to receive a confidence of this -kind. M. Faure took down the daroga's depositions and proceeded to -treat him as a madman. -</P> - -<P> -Despairing of ever obtaining a hearing, the Persian sat down to write. -As the police did not want his evidence, perhaps the press would be -glad of it; and he had just written the last line of the narrative I -have quoted in the preceding chapters, when Darius announced the visit -of a stranger who refused his name, who would not show his face and -declared simply that he did not intend to leave the place until he had -spoken to the daroga. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian at once felt who his singular visitor was and ordered him -to be shown in. The daroga was right. It was the ghost, it was Erik! -</P> - -<P> -He looked extremely weak and leaned against the wall, as though he were -afraid of falling. Taking off his hat, he revealed a forehead white as -wax. The rest of the horrible face was hidden by the mask. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian rose to his feet as Erik entered. -</P> - -<P> -"Murderer of Count Philippe, what have you done with his brother and -Christine Daae?" -</P> - -<P> -Erik staggered under this direct attack, kept silent for a moment, -dragged himself to a chair and heaved a deep sigh. Then, speaking in -short phrases and gasping for breath between the words: -</P> - -<P> -"Daroga, don't talk to me ... about Count Philippe ... He was dead ... -by the time ... I left my house ... he was dead ... when ... the siren -sang ... It was an ... accident ... a sad ... a very sad ... accident. -He fell very awkwardly ... but simply and naturally ... into the lake! -..." -</P> - -<P> -"You lie!" shouted the Persian. -</P> - -<P> -Erik bowed his head and said: -</P> - -<P> -"I have not come here ... to talk about Count Philippe ... but to tell -you that ... I am going ... to die..." -</P> - -<P> -"Where are Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" -</P> - -<P> -"I am going to die." -</P> - -<P> -"Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" -</P> - -<P> -"Of love ... daroga ... I am dying ... of love ... That is how it is -... loved her so! ... And I love her still ... daroga ... and I am -dying of love for her, I ... I tell you! ... If you knew how beautiful -she was ... when she let me kiss her ... alive ... It was the first -... time, daroga, the first ... time I ever kissed a woman ... Yes, -alive ... I kissed her alive ... and she looked as beautiful as if she -had been dead!" -</P> - -<P> -The Persian shook Erik by the arm: -</P> - -<P> -"Will you tell me if she is alive or dead." -</P> - -<P> -"Why do you shake me like that?" asked Erik, making an effort to speak -more connectedly. "I tell you that I am going to die... Yes, I kissed -her alive ..." -</P> - -<P> -"And now she is dead?" -</P> - -<P> -"I tell you I kissed her just like that, on her forehead ... and she -did not draw back her forehead from my lips! ... Oh, she is a good -girl! ... As to her being dead, I don't think so; but it has nothing to -do with me ... No, no, she is not dead! And no one shall touch a hair -of her head! She is a good, honest girl, and she saved your life, -daroga, at a moment when I would not have given twopence for your -Persian skin. As a matter of fact, nobody bothered about you. Why -were you there with that little chap? You would have died as well as -he! My word, how she entreated me for her little chap! But I told her -that, as she had turned the scorpion, she had, through that very fact, -and of her own free will, become engaged to me and that she did not -need to have two men engaged to her, which was true enough. -</P> - -<P> -"As for you, you did not exist, you had ceased to exist, I tell you, -and you were going to die with the other! ... Only, mark me, daroga, -when you were yelling like the devil, because of the water, Christine -came to me with her beautiful blue eyes wide open, and swore to me, as -she hoped to be saved, that she consented to be MY LIVING WIFE! ... -Until then, in the depths of her eyes, daroga, I had always seen my -dead wife; it was the first time I saw MY LIVING WIFE there. She was -sincere, as she hoped to be saved. She would not kill herself. It was -a bargain ... Half a minute later, all the water was back in the lake; -and I had a hard job with you, daroga, for, upon my honor, I thought -you were done for! ... However! ... There you were! ... It was -understood that I was to take you both up to the surface of the earth. -When, at last, I cleared the Louis-Philippe room of you, I came back -alone ..." -</P> - -<P> -"What have you done with the Vicomte de Chagny?" asked the Persian, -interrupting him. -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, you see, daroga, I couldn't carry HIM up like that, at once. ... -He was a hostage ... But I could not keep him in the house on the -lake, either, because of Christine; so I locked him up comfortably, I -chained him up nicely—a whiff of the Mazenderan scent had left him as -limp as a rag—in the Communists' dungeon, which is in the most -deserted and remote part of the Opera, below the fifth cellar, where no -one ever comes, and where no one ever hears you. Then I came back to -Christine, she was waiting for me." -</P> - -<P> -Erik here rose solemnly. Then he continued, but, as he spoke, he was -overcome by all his former emotion and began to tremble like a leaf: -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, she was waiting for me ... waiting for me erect and alive, a -real, living bride ... as she hoped to be saved ... And, when I ... -came forward, more timid than ... a little child, she did not run away -... no, no ... she stayed ... she waited for me ... I even believe ... -daroga ... that she put out her forehead ... a little ... oh, not much -... just a little ... like a living bride ... And ... and ... I ... -kissed her! ... I! ... I! ... I! ... And she did not die! ... Oh, how -good it is, daroga, to kiss somebody on the forehead! ... You can't -tell! ... But I! I! ... My mother, daroga, my poor, unhappy mother -would never ... let me kiss her ... She used to run away ... and throw -me my mask! ... Nor any other woman ... ever, ever! ... Ah, you can -understand, my happiness was so great, I cried. And I fell at her -feet, crying ... and I kissed her feet ... her little feet ... crying. -You're crying, too, daroga ... and she cried also ... the angel cried! -..." Erik sobbed aloud and the Persian himself could not retain his -tears in the presence of that masked man, who, with his shoulders -shaking and his hands clutched at his chest, was moaning with pain and -love by turns. -</P> - -<P> -"Yes, daroga ... I felt her tears flow on my forehead ... on mine, -mine! ... They were soft ... they were sweet! ... They trickled under -my mask ... they mingled with my tears in my eyes ... yes ... they -flowed between my lips ... Listen, daroga, listen to what I did ... I -tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears ... and she did not -run away! ... And she did not die! ... She remained alive, weeping -over me, with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness -the world can offer!" -</P> - -<P> -And Erik fell into a chair, choking for breath: -</P> - -<P> -"Ah, I am not going to die yet ... presently I shall ... but let me -cry! ... Listen, daroga ... listen to this ... While I was at her feet -... I heard her say, 'Poor, unhappy Erik!' ... AND SHE TOOK MY HAND! -... I had become no more, you know, than a poor dog ready to die for -her ... I mean it, daroga! ... I held in my hand a ring, a plain gold -ring which I had given her ... which she had lost ... and which I had -found again ... a wedding-ring, you know ... I slipped it into her -little hand and said, 'There! ... Take it! ... Take it for you ... and -him! ... It shall be my wedding-present a present from your poor, -unhappy Erik ... I know you love the boy ... don't cry any more! ... -She asked me, in a very soft voice, what I meant ... Then I made her -understand that, where she was concerned, I was only a poor dog, ready -to die for her ... but that she could marry the young man when she -pleased, because she had cried with me and mingled her tears with mine! -..." -</P> - -<P> -Erik's emotion was so great that he had to tell the Persian not to look -at him, for he was choking and must take off his mask. The daroga went -to the window and opened it. His heart was full of pity, but he took -care to keep his eyes fixed on the trees in the Tuileries gardens, lest -he should see the monster's face. -</P> - -<P> -"I went and released the young man," Erik continued, "and told him to -come with me to Christine ... They kissed before me in the -Louis-Philippe room ... Christine had my ring ... I made Christine -swear to come back, one night, when I was dead, crossing the lake from -the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest secrecy with the gold -ring, which she was to wear until that moment. ... I told her where -she would find my body and what to do with it... Then Christine kissed -me, for the first time, herself, here, on the forehead—don't look, -daroga!—here, on the forehead ... on my forehead, mine—don't look, -daroga!—and they went off together... Christine had stopped crying -... I alone cried ... Daroga, daroga, if Christine keeps her promise, -she will come back soon! ..." -</P> - -<P> -The Persian asked him no questions. He was quite reassured as to the -fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could have doubted the -word of the weeping Erik that night. -</P> - -<P> -The monster resumed his mask and collected his strength to leave the -daroga. He told him that, when he felt his end to be very near at -hand, he would send him, in gratitude for the kindness which the -Persian had once shown him, that which he held dearest in the world: -all Christine Daae's papers, which she had written for Raoul's benefit -and left with Erik, together with a few objects belonging to her, such -as a pair of gloves, a shoe-buckle and two pocket-handkerchiefs. In -reply to the Persian's questions, Erik told him that the two young -people, at soon as they found themselves free, had resolved to go and -look for a priest in some lonely spot where they could hide their -happiness and that, with this object in view, they had started from -"the northern railway station of the world." Lastly, Erik relied on -the Persian, as soon as he received the promised relics and papers, to -inform the young couple of his death and to advertise it in the EPOQUE. -</P> - -<P> -That was all. The Persian saw Erik to the door of his flat, and Darius -helped him down to the street. A cab was waiting for him. Erik -stepped in; and the Persian, who had gone back to the window, heard him -say to the driver: -</P> - -<P> -"Go to the Opera." -</P> - -<P> -And the cab drove off into the night. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian had seen the poor, unfortunate Erik for the last time. -Three weeks later, the Epoque published this advertisement: -</P> - -<P> -"Erik is dead." -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap27"></A> -<H3 ALIGN="center"> -Epilogue. -</H3> - -<P> -I have now told the singular, but veracious story of the Opera ghost. -As I declared on the first page of this work, it is no longer possible -to deny that Erik really lived. There are to-day so many proofs of his -existence within the reach of everybody that we can follow Erik's -actions logically through the whole tragedy of the Chagnys. -</P> - -<P> -There is no need to repeat here how greatly the case excited the -capital. The kidnapping of the artist, the death of the Comte de -Chagny under such exceptional conditions, the disappearance of his -brother, the drugging of the gas-man at the Opera and of his two -assistants: what tragedies, what passions, what crimes had surrounded -the idyll of Raoul and the sweet and charming Christine! ... What had -become of that wonderful, mysterious artist of whom the world was -never, never to hear again? ... She was represented as the victim of a -rivalry between the two brothers; and nobody suspected what had really -happened, nobody understood that, as Raoul and Christine had both -disappeared, both had withdrawn far from the world to enjoy a happiness -which they would not have cared to make public after the inexplicable -death of Count Philippe ... They took the train one day from "the -northern railway station of the world." ... Possibly, I too shall take -the train at that station, one day, and go and seek around thy lakes, O -Norway, O silent Scandinavia, for the perhaps still living traces of -Raoul and Christine and also of Mamma Valerius, who disappeared at the -same time! ... Possibly, some day, I shall hear the lonely echoes of -the North repeat the singing of her who knew the Angel of Music! ... -</P> - -<P> -Long after the case was pigeonholed by the unintelligent care of M. le -Juge d'Instruction Faure, the newspapers made efforts, at intervals, to -fathom the mystery. One evening paper alone, which knew all the gossip -of the theaters, said: -</P> - -<P> -"We recognize the touch of the Opera ghost." -</P> - -<P> -And even that was written by way of irony. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian alone knew the whole truth and held the main proofs, which -came to him with the pious relics promised by the ghost. It fell to my -lot to complete those proofs with the aid of the daroga himself. Day -by day, I kept him informed of the progress of my inquiries; and he -directed them. He had not been to the Opera for years and years, but -he had preserved the most accurate recollection of the building, and -there was no better guide than he possible to help me discover its most -secret recesses. He also told me where to gather further information, -whom to ask; and he sent me to call on M. Poligny, at a moment when the -poor man was nearly drawing his last breath. I had no idea that he was -so very ill, and I shall never forget the effect which my questions -about the ghost produced upon him. He looked at me as if I were the -devil and answered only in a few incoherent sentences, which showed, -however—and that was the main thing—the extent of the perturbation -which O. G., in his time, had brought into that already very restless -life (for M. Poligny was what people call a man of pleasure). -</P> - -<P> -When I came and told the Persian of the poor result of my visit to M. -Poligny, the daroga gave a faint smile and said: -</P> - -<P> -"Poligny never knew how far that extraordinary blackguard of an Erik -humbugged him."—The Persian, by the way, spoke of Erik sometimes as a -demigod and sometimes as the lowest of the low—"Poligny was -superstitious and Erik knew it. Erik knew most things about the public -and private affairs of the Opera. When M. Poligny heard a mysterious -voice tell him, in Box Five, of the manner in which he used to spend -his time and abuse his partner's confidence, he did not wait to hear -any more. Thinking at first that it was a voice from Heaven, he -believed himself damned; and then, when the voice began to ask for -money, he saw that he was being victimized by a shrewd blackmailer to -whom Debienne himself had fallen a prey. Both of them, already tired -of management for various reasons, went away without trying to -investigate further into the personality of that curious O. G., who had -forced such a singular memorandum-book upon them. They bequeathed the -whole mystery to their successors and heaved a sigh of relief when they -were rid of a business that had puzzled them without amusing them in -the least." -</P> - -<P> -I then spoke of the two successors and expressed my surprise that, in -his Memoirs of a Manager, M. Moncharmin should describe the Opera -ghost's behavior at such length in the first part of the book and -hardly mention it at all in the second. In reply to this, the Persian, -who knew the MEMOIRS as thoroughly as if he had written them himself, -observed that I should find the explanation of the whole business if I -would just recollect the few lines which Moncharmin devotes to the -ghost in the second part aforesaid. I quote these lines, which are -particularly interesting because they describe the very simple manner -in which the famous incident of the twenty-thousand francs was closed: -</P> - -<P> -"As for O. G., some of whose curious tricks I have related in the first -part of my Memoirs, I will only say that he redeemed by one spontaneous -fine action all the worry which he had caused my dear friend and -partner and, I am bound to say, myself. He felt, no doubt, that there -are limits to a joke, especially when it is so expensive and when the -commissary of police has been informed, for, at the moment when we had -made an appointment in our office with M. Mifroid to tell him the whole -story, a few days after the disappearance of Christine Daae, we found, -on Richard's table, a large envelope, inscribed, in red ink, "WITH O. -G.'S COMPLIMENTS." It contained the large sum of money which he had -succeeded in playfully extracting, for the time being, from the -treasury. Richard was at once of the opinion that we must be content -with that and drop the business. I agreed with Richard. All's well -that ends well. What do you say, O. G.?" -</P> - -<P> -Of course, Moncharmin, especially after the money had been restored, -continued to believe that he had, for a short while, been the butt of -Richard's sense of humor, whereas Richard, on his side, was convinced -that Moncharmin had amused himself by inventing the whole of the affair -of the Opera ghost, in order to revenge himself for a few jokes. -</P> - -<P> -I asked the Persian to tell me by what trick the ghost had taken -twenty-thousand francs from Richard's pocket in spite of the -safety-pin. He replied that he had not gone into this little detail, -but that, if I myself cared to make an investigation on the spot, I -should certainly find the solution to the riddle in the managers' -office by remembering that Erik had not been nicknamed the trap-door -lover for nothing. I promised the Persian to do so as soon as I had -time, and I may as well tell the reader at once that the results of my -investigation were perfectly satisfactory; and I hardly believed that I -should ever discover so many undeniable proofs of the authenticity of -the feats ascribed to the ghost. -</P> - -<P> -The Persian's manuscript, Christine Daae's papers, the statements made -to me by the people who used to work under MM. Richard and Moncharmin, -by little Meg herself (the worthy Madame Giry, I am sorry to say, is no -more) and by Sorelli, who is now living in retirement at Louveciennes: -all the documents relating to the existence of the ghost, which I -propose to deposit in the archives of the Opera, have been checked and -confirmed by a number of important discoveries of which I am justly -proud. I have not been able to find the house on the lake, Erik having -blocked up all the secret entrances.[1] On the other hand, I have -discovered the secret passage of the Communists, the planking of which -is falling to pieces in parts, and also the trap-door through which -Raoul and the Persian penetrated into the cellars of the opera-house. -In the Communists' dungeon, I noticed numbers of initials traced on the -walls by the unfortunate people confined in it; and among these were an -"R" and a "C." R. C.: Raoul de Chagny. The letters are there to this -day. -</P> - -<P> -If the reader will visit the Opera one morning and ask leave to stroll -where he pleases, without being accompanied by a stupid guide, let him -go to Box Five and knock with his fist or stick on the enormous column -that separates this from the stage-box. He will find that the column -sounds hollow. After that, do not be astonished by the suggestion that -it was occupied by the voice of the ghost: there is room inside the -column for two men. If you are surprised that, when the various -incidents occurred, no one turned round to look at the column, you must -remember that it presented the appearance of solid marble, and that the -voice contained in it seemed rather to come from the opposite side, -for, as we have seen, the ghost was an expert ventriloquist. -</P> - -<P> -The column was elaborately carved and decorated with the sculptor's -chisel; and I do not despair of one day discovering the ornament that -could be raised or lowered at will, so as to admit of the ghost's -mysterious correspondence with Mme. Giry and of his generosity. -</P> - -<P> -However, all these discoveries are nothing, to my mind, compared with -that which I was able to make, in the presence of the acting-manager, -in the managers' office, within a couple of inches from the desk-chair, -and which consisted of a trap-door, the width of a board in the -flooring and the length of a man's fore-arm and no longer; a trap-door -that falls back like the lid of a box; a trap-door through which I can -see a hand come and dexterously fumble at the pocket of a swallow-tail -coat. -</P> - -<P> -That is the way the forty-thousand francs went! ... And that also is -the way by which, through some trick or other, they were returned. -</P> - -<P> -Speaking about this to the Persian, I said: -</P> - -<P> -"So we may take it, as the forty-thousand francs were returned, that -Erik was simply amusing himself with that memorandum-book of his?" -</P> - -<P> -"Don't you believe it!" he replied. "Erik wanted money. Thinking -himself without the pale of humanity, he was restrained by no scruples -and he employed his extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination, -which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary -uglinesss, to prey upon his fellow-men. His reason for restoring the -forty-thousand francs, of his own accord, was that he no longer wanted -it. He had relinquished his marriage with Christine Daae. He had -relinquished everything above the surface of the earth." -</P> - -<P> -According to the Persian's account, Erik was born in a small town not -far from Rouen. He was the son of a master-mason. He ran away at an -early age from his father's house, where his ugliness was a subject of -horror and terror to his parents. For a time, he frequented the fairs, -where a showman exhibited him as the "living corpse." He seems to have -crossed the whole of Europe, from fair to fair, and to have completed -his strange education as an artist and magician at the very -fountain-head of art and magic, among the Gipsies. A period of Erik's -life remained quite obscure. He was seen at the fair of -Nijni-Novgorod, where he displayed himself in all his hideous glory. -He already sang as nobody on this earth had ever sung before; he -practised ventriloquism and gave displays of legerdemain so -extraordinary that the caravans returning to Asia talked about it -during the whole length of their journey. In this way, his reputation -penetrated the walls of the palace at Mazenderan, where the little -sultana, the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. -A dealer in furs, returning to Samarkand from Nijni-Novgorod, told of -the marvels which he had seen performed in Erik's tent. The trader was -summoned to the palace and the daroga of Mazenderan was told to -question him. Next the daroga was instructed to go and find Erik. He -brought him to Persia, where for some months Erik's will was law. He -was guilty of not a few horrors, for he seemed not to know the -difference between good and evil. He took part calmly in a number of -political assassinations; and he turned his diabolical inventive powers -against the Emir of Afghanistan, who was at war with the Persian -empire. The Shah took a liking to him. -</P> - -<P> -This was the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, of which the -daroga's narrative has given us a glimpse. Erik had very original -ideas on the subject of architecture and thought out a palace much as a -conjuror contrives a trick-casket. The Shah ordered him to construct an -edifice of this kind. Erik did so; and the building appears to have -been so ingenious that His Majesty was able to move about in it unseen -and to disappear without a possibility of the trick's being discovered. -When the Shah-in-Shah found himself the possessor of this gem, he -ordered Erik's yellow eyes to be put out. But he reflected that, even -when blind, Erik would still be able to build so remarkable a house for -another sovereign; and also that, as long as Erik was alive, some one -would know the secret of the wonderful palace. Erik's death was -decided upon, together with that of all the laborers who had worked -under his orders. The execution of this abominable decree devolved -upon the daroga of Mazenderan. Erik had shown him some slight services -and procured him many a hearty laugh. He saved Erik by providing him -with the means of escape, but nearly paid with his head for his -generous indulgence. -</P> - -<P> -Fortunately for the daroga, a corpse, half-eaten by the birds of prey, -was found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and was taken for Erik's -body, because the daroga's friends had dressed the remains in clothing -that belonged to Erik. The daroga was let off with the loss of the -imperial favor, the confiscation of his property and an order of -perpetual banishment. As a member of the Royal House, however, he -continued to receive a monthly pension of a few hundred francs from the -Persian treasury; and on this he came to live in Paris. -</P> - -<P> -As for Erik, he went to Asia Minor and thence to Constantinople, where -he entered the Sultan's employment. In explanation of the services -which he was able to render a monarch haunted by perpetual terrors, I -need only say that it was Erik who constructed all the famous -trap-doors and secret chambers and mysterious strong-boxes which were -found at Yildiz-Kiosk after the last Turkish revolution. He also -invented those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the -Sultan in all respects,[2] which made people believe that the -Commander of the Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he -was asleep elsewhere. -</P> - -<P> -Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons -that made him fly from Persia: he knew too much. Then, tired of his -adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one -"like everybody else." And he became a contractor, like any ordinary -contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered -for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted. -When he found himself in the cellars of the enormous playhouse, his -artistic, fantastic, wizard nature resumed the upper hand. Besides, -was he not as ugly as ever? He dreamed of creating for his own use a -dwelling unknown to the rest of the earth, where he could hide from -men's eyes for all time. -</P> - -<P> -The reader knows and guesses the rest. It is all in keeping with this -incredible and yet veracious story. Poor, unhappy Erik! Shall we pity -him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be "some one," like -everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his genius OR -USE IT TO PLAY TRICKS WITH, when, with an ordinary face, he would have -been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had a heart that -could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, he had to -content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must needs pity the Opera -ghost. -</P> - -<P> -I have prayed over his mortal remains, that God might show him mercy -notwithstanding his crimes. Yes, I am sure, quite sure that I prayed -beside his body, the other day, when they took it from the spot where -they were burying the phonographic records. It was his skeleton. I -did not recognize it by the ugliness of the head, for all men are ugly -when they have been dead as long as that, but by the plain gold ring -which he wore and which Christine Daae had certainly slipped on his -finger, when she came to bury him in accordance with her promise. -</P> - -<P> -The skeleton was lying near the little well, in the place where the -Angel of Music first held Christine Daae fainting in his trembling -arms, on the night when he carried her down to the cellars of the -opera-house. -</P> - -<P> -And, now, what do they mean to do with that skeleton? Surely they will -not bury it in the common grave! ... I say that the place of the -skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National Academy -of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton. -</P> - -<BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[1] Even so, I am convinced that it would be easy to reach it by -draining the lake, as I have repeatedly requested the Ministry of Fine -Arts to do. I was speaking about it to M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, the -under-secretary for fine arts, only forty-eight hours before the -publication of this book. Who knows but that the score of DON JUAN -TRIUMPHANT might yet be discovered in the house on the lake? -</P> - -<P CLASS="footnote"> -[2] See the interview of the special correspondent of the MATIN, with -Mohammed-Ali Bey, on the day after the entry of the Salonika troops -into Constantinople. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<P CLASS="inis"> -THE END -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR> - -<A NAME="chap28"></A> -<H2 ALIGN="center"> -The Paris Opera House -</H2> - -<H3> -THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" -</H3> - -<P> -That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris Opera -House as it really is and has not created a building out of his -imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it taken from -an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, a short time -after the building was completed: -</P> - -<P> -"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under the -Republic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world and in -many respects the most beautiful. No European capital possesses an -opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, and none can boast -an edifice equally vast and splendid. -</P> - -<P> -"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined to -lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was well known -that water would be met with, but it was impossible to foresee at what -depth or in what quantity it would be found. Exceptional depth also -was necessary, as the stage arrangements were to be such as to admit a -scene fifty feet high to be lowered on its frame. It was therefore -necessary to lay a foundation in a soil soaked with water which should -be sufficiently solid to sustain a weight of 22,000,000 pounds, and at -the same time to be perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for the -storage of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, the -excavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, worked by -steam power, and in operation, without interruption, day and night, -from March second to October thirteenth. The floor of the cellar was -covered with a layer of concrete, then with two coats of cement, -another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. The wall includes an -outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, a coat of cement, and a -wall proper, a little over a yard thick. After all this was done the -whole was filled with water, in order that the fluid, by penetrating -into the most minute interstices, might deposit a sediment which would -close them more surely and perfectly than it would be possible to do by -hand. Twelve years elapsed before the completion of the building, and -during that time it was demonstrated that the precautions taken secured -absolute impermeability and solidity. -</P> - -<P> -"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to be -prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put to new and -unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted into a vast -military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous mass of goods. -After the siege the building fell into the hands of the Commune and the -roof was turned into a balloon station. The damage done, however, was -slight. -</P> - -<P> -"The fine stone employed in the construction was brought from quarries -in Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland, Spain, Belgium and -France. While work on the exterior was in progress, the building was -covered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent by thousands of -small panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, supplied with hammers -and axes, stripped the house of its habit, and showed in all its -splendor the great structure. No picture can do justice to the rich -colors of the edifice or to the harmonious tone resulting from the -skilful use of many diverse materials. The effect of the frontage is -completed by the cupola of the auditorium, topped with a cap of bronze -sparingly adorned with gilding. Farther on, on a level with the towers -of Notre-Dame, is the gable end of the roof of the stage, a 'Pegasus', -by M. Lequesne, rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group by -M. Millet, representing 'Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commanding -the apex. Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well as -ornamental, for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does duty -as a lightning-rod, and conducts the fluid to the body and down the -nether limbs of the god. -</P> - -<P> -"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left behind him a gateway, -reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, and -Handel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to a second vestibule -for ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion reserved for -carriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are situated. -The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium, -traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. The -ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted -columns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico. -Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain -until their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is quite -distinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. The section -of the building set aside for the use of the Emperor Napoleon was to -have included an antechamber for the bodyguards; a salon for the -aides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one for the Empress; hat and -cloak rooms, etc. Moreover, there were to be in close proximity to the -entrance, stables for three coaches, for the outriders' horses, and for -the twenty-one horsemen acting as an escort; a station for a squad of -infantry of thirty-one men and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the -horses of the latter; and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty -domestics. Thus arrangements had to be made to accommodate in this -part of the building about one hundred persons, fifty horses, and -half-a-dozen carriages. The fall of the Empire suggested some changes, -but ample provision still exists for emergencies. -</P> - -<P> -"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare splendor of material, -make the grand stairway unquestionably one of the most remarkable -features of the building. It presents to the spectator, who has just -passed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture. From -this point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing; this -and the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, are -honeycombed with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; the steps are of -white marble, and antique red marble balusters rest on green marble -sockets and support a balustrade of onyx. To the right and to the left -of this landing are stairways to the floor, on a plane with the first -row of boxes. On this floor stand thirty monolith columns of -Sarrancolin marble, with white marble bases and capitals. Pilasters of -peach-blossom and violet stone are against the corresponding walls. -More than fifty blocks had to be extracted from the quarry to find -thirty perfect monoliths. -</P> - -<P> -"The foyer de la danse has particular interest for the habitues of the -Opera. It is a place of reunion to which subscribers to three -performances a week are admitted between the acts in accordance with a -usage established in 1870. Three immense looking-glasses cover the -back wall of the FOYER, and a chandelier with one hundred and seven -burners supplies it with light. The paintings include twenty oval -medallions, in which are portrayed the twenty danseuses of most -celebrity since the opera has existed in France, and four panels by M. -Boulanger, typifying 'The War Dance', 'The Rustic Dance', 'The Dance of -Love' and 'The Bacchic Dance.' While the ladies of the ballet receive -their admirers in this foyer, they can practise their steps. -Velvet-cushioned bars have to this end been secured at convenient -points, and the floor has been given the same slope as that of the -stage, so that the labor expended may be thoroughly profitable to the -performance. The singers' foyer, on the same floor, is a much less -lively resort than the foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leave -their dressing-rooms before they are summoned to the stage. Thirty -panels with portraits of the artists of repute in the annals of the -Opera adorn this foyer. -</P> - -<P> -"Some estimate ... may be arrived at by sitting before the concierge an -hour or so before the representation commences. First appear the stage -carpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes, when L'Africaine, -for example, with its ship scene, is the opera, one hundred and ten -strong. Then come stage upholsterers, whose sole duty is to lay -carpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and a squad of firemen. -Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, coiffeurs, -supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries number about -one hundred; some are hired by the year, but the 'masses' are generally -recruited at the last minute and are generally working-men who seek to -add to their meagre earnings. There are about a hundred choristers, -and about eighty musicians. -</P> - -<P> -"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted on the stage by -means of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producing -batteries; hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works in ballets -like La Source; artificers who prepare the conflagration in Le Profeta; -florists who make ready Margarita's garden, and a host of minor -employees. This personnel is provided for as follows: Eighty -dressing-rooms are reserved for the artists, each including a small -antechamber, the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besides -these apartments, the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, and -another for fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four male -dancers; four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of different -grades; a dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries, -etc." -</P> - -<P> -A few figures taken from the article will suggest the enormous capacity -and the perfect convenience of the house. "There are 2,531 doors and -7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house; the gaspipes if -connected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; 9 reservoirs, and two -tanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and distribute their contents -through 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; 538 persons have places assigned -wherein to change their attire. The musicians have a foyer with 100 -closets for their instruments." -</P> - -<P> -The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that it "was almost -as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways and colossal -halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, satin and -velvet, met the eye at every turn." -</P> - -<P> -In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable pictures -illustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera House -and mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitan -railway tunnels, one on top of the other. -</P> - -<BR><BR><BR><BR> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA *** - -***** This file should be named 175-h.htm or 175-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/175/ - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Phantom of the Opera - -Author: Gaston Leroux - -Release Date: June 9, 2008 [EBook #175] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA *** - - - - - - - - - - - - - -The footnotes have been incrementally numbered in [ ] marks, and placed -after the paragraph in which they appear - - - - - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera - - -by - -Gaston Leroux - - - -Author of "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" and "The Perfume of the Lady -in Black" - - - - -Contents - - Chapter - - PROLOGUE - I IS IT A GHOST? - II THE NEW MARGARITA - III THE MYSTERIOUS REASON - IV BOX FIVE - V THE ENCHANTED VIOLIN - VI A VISIT TO BOX FIVE - VII FAUST AND WHAT FOLLOWED - VIII THE MYSTERIOUS BROUGHAM - IX AT THE MASKED BALL - X FORGET THE NAME OF THE MAN'S VOICE - XI ABOVE THE TRAP-DOORS - XII APOLLO'S LYRE - XIII A MASTER-STROKE OF THE TRAP-DOOR LOVER - XIV THE SINGULAR ATTITUDE OF A SAFETY-PIN - XV CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE! - XVI MME. GIRY'S REVELATIONS - XVII THE SAFETY-PIN AGAIN - XVIII THE COMMISSARY, THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN - XIX THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN - XX IN THE CELLARS OF THE OPERA - XXI INTERESTING VICISSITUDES - XXII IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER - XXIII THE TORTURES BEGIN - XXIV BARRELS! BARRELS! - XXV THE SCORPION OR THE GRASSHOPPER: WHICH - XXVI THE END OF THE GHOST'S LOVE STORY - EPILOGUE - -{plus a "bonus chapter" called "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE"} - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera - - - -Prologue - - -IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS SINGULAR WORK INFORMS THE READER HOW HE -ACQUIRED THE CERTAINTY THAT THE OPERA GHOST REALLY EXISTED - -The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a -creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the -managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the -young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the -cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and -blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; -that is to say, of a spectral shade. - -When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of Music I -was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between the phenomena -ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary and fantastic -tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; and I soon conceived -the idea that this tragedy might reasonably be explained by the -phenomena in question. The events do not date more than thirty years -back; and it would not be difficult to find at the present day, in the -foyer of the ballet, old men of the highest respectability, men upon -whose word one could absolutely rely, who would remember as though they -happened yesterday the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended -the kidnapping of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de -Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body -was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars of -the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses had -until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting the -more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible -story. - -The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an inquiry that at -every moment was complicated by events which, at first sight, might be -looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was within an ace of -abandoning a task in which I was exhausting myself in the hopeless -pursuit of a vain image. At last, I received the proof that my -presentiments had not deceived me, and I was rewarded for all my -efforts on the day when I acquired the certainty that the Opera ghost -was more than a mere shade. - -On that day, I had spent long hours over THE MEMOIRS OF A MANAGER, the -light and frivolous work of the too-skeptical Moncharmin, who, during -his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious behavior of -the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he could at the -very moment when he became the first victim of the curious financial -operation that went on inside the "magic envelope." - -I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful -acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing -with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced me -gaily. The acting-manager knew all about my investigations and how -eagerly and unsuccessfully I had been trying to discover the -whereabouts of the examining magistrate in the famous Chagny case, M. -Faure. Nobody knew what had become of him, alive or dead; and here he -was back from Canada, where he had spent fifteen years, and the first -thing he had done, on his return to Paris, was to come to the -secretarial offices at the Opera and ask for a free seat. The little -old man was M. Faure himself. - -We spent a good part of the evening together and he told me the whole -Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. He was bound to -conclude in favor of the madness of the viscount and the accidental -death of the elder brother, for lack of evidence to the contrary; but -he was nevertheless persuaded that a terrible tragedy had taken place -between the two brothers in connection with Christine Daae. He could -not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. When I mentioned -the ghost, he only laughed. He, too, had been told of the curious -manifestations that seemed to point to the existence of an abnormal -being, residing in one of the most mysterious corners of the Opera, and -he knew the story of the envelope; but he had never seen anything in it -worthy of his attention as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case, and -it was as much as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness -who appeared of his own accord and declared that he had often met the -ghost. This witness was none other than the man whom all Paris called -the "Persian" and who was well-known to every subscriber to the Opera. -The magistrate took him for a visionary. - -I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. I wanted, if -there were still time, to find this valuable and eccentric witness. My -luck began to improve and I discovered him in his little flat in the -Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died five -months after my visit. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; but -when the Persian had told me, with child-like candor, all that he knew -about the ghost and had handed me the proofs of the ghost's -existence--including the strange correspondence of Christine Daae--to -do as I pleased with, I was no longer able to doubt. No, the ghost was -not a myth! - -I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been forged -from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly been fed on -the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered some of -Christine's writing outside the famous bundle of letters and, on a -comparison between the two, all my doubts were removed. I also went -into the past history of the Persian and found that he was an upright -man, incapable of inventing a story that might have defeated the ends -of justice. - -This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, at one -time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were friends of -the Chagny family, to whom I showed all my documents and set forth all -my inferences. In this connection, I should like to print a few lines -which I received from General D----: - -SIR: - -I can not urge you too strongly to publish the results of your inquiry. -I remember perfectly that, a few weeks before the disappearance of that -great singer, Christine Daae, and the tragedy which threw the whole of -the Faubourg Saint-Germain into mourning, there was a great deal of -talk, in the foyer of the ballet, on the subject of the "ghost;" and I -believe that it only ceased to be discussed in consequence of the later -affair that excited us all so greatly. But, if it be possible--as, -after hearing you, I believe--to explain the tragedy through the ghost, -then I beg you sir, to talk to us about the ghost again. - -Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, he will always be more -easily explained than the dismal story in which malevolent people have -tried to picture two brothers killing each other who had worshiped each -other all their lives. - -Believe me, etc. - -Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over the -ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made his kingdom. -All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived, corroborated the -Persian's documents precisely; and a wonderful discovery crowned my -labors in a very definite fashion. It will be remembered that, later, -when digging in the substructure of the Opera, before burying the -phonographic records of the artist's voice, the workmen laid bare a -corpse. Well, I was at once able to prove that this corpse was that of -the Opera ghost. I made the acting-manager put this proof to the test -with his own hand; and it is now a matter of supreme indifference to me -if the papers pretend that the body was that of a victim of the Commune. - -The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars of -the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their -skeletons can be found in a spot not very far from that immense crypt -which was stocked during the siege with all sorts of provisions. I -came upon this track just when I was looking for the remains of the -Opera ghost, which I should never have discovered but for the -unheard-of chance described above. - -But we will return to the corpse and what ought to be done with it. -For the present, I must conclude this very necessary introduction by -thanking M. Mifroid (who was the commissary of police called in for the -first investigations after the disappearance of Christine Daae), M. -Remy, the late secretary, M. Mercier, the late acting-manager, M. -Gabriel, the late chorus-master, and more particularly Mme. la Baronne -de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the "little Meg" of the story (and -who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star of our admirable -corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy Mme. Giry, now -deceased, who had charge of the ghost's private box. All these were of -the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, I shall be able to -reproduce those hours of sheer love and terror, in their smallest -details, before the reader's eyes. - -And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing on the -threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank the present -management the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me in all my -inquiries, and M. Messager in particular, together with M. Gabion, the -acting-manager, and that most amiable of men, the architect intrusted -with the preservation of the building, who did not hesitate to lend me -the works of Charles Garnier, although he was almost sure that I would -never return them to him. Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the -generosity of my friend and former collaborator, M. J. Le Croze, who -allowed me to dip into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow -the rarest editions of books by which he set great store. - -GASTON LEROUX. - - - -Chapter I Is it the Ghost? - - -It was the evening on which MM. Debienne and Poligny, the managers of -the Opera, were giving a last gala performance to mark their -retirement. Suddenly the dressing-room of La Sorelli, one of the -principal dancers, was invaded by half-a-dozen young ladies of the -ballet, who had come up from the stage after "dancing" Polyeucte. They -rushed in amid great confusion, some giving vent to forced and -unnatural laughter, others to cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished to -be alone for a moment to "run through" the speech which she was to make -to the resigning managers, looked around angrily at the mad and -tumultuous crowd. It was little Jammes--the girl with the tip-tilted -nose, the forget-me-not eyes, the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white -neck and shoulders--who gave the explanation in a trembling voice: - -"It's the ghost!" And she locked the door. - -Sorelli's dressing-room was fitted up with official, commonplace -elegance. A pier-glass, a sofa, a dressing-table and a cupboard or two -provided the necessary furniture. On the walls hung a few engravings, -relics of the mother, who had known the glories of the old Opera in the -Rue le Peletier; portraits of Vestris, Gardel, Dupont, Bigottini. But -the room seemed a palace to the brats of the corps de ballet, who were -lodged in common dressing-rooms where they spent their time singing, -quarreling, smacking the dressers and hair-dressers and buying one -another glasses of cassis, beer, or even rhum, until the call-boy's -bell rang. - -Sorelli was very superstitious. She shuddered when she heard little -Jammes speak of the ghost, called her a "silly little fool" and then, -as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general, and the Opera -ghost in particular, at once asked for details: - -"Have you seen him?" - -"As plainly as I see you now!" said little Jammes, whose legs were -giving way beneath her, and she dropped with a moan into a chair. - -Thereupon little Giry--the girl with eyes black as sloes, hair black as -ink, a swarthy complexion and a poor little skin stretched over poor -little bones--little Giry added: - -"If that's the ghost, he's very ugly!" - -"Oh, yes!" cried the chorus of ballet-girls. - -And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them in -the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood -before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. -He seemed to have come straight through the wall. - -"Pooh!" said one of them, who had more or less kept her head. "You see -the ghost everywhere!" - -And it was true. For several months, there had been nothing discussed -at the Opera but this ghost in dress-clothes who stalked about the -building, from top to bottom, like a shadow, who spoke to nobody, to -whom nobody dared speak and who vanished as soon as he was seen, no one -knowing how or where. As became a real ghost, he made no noise in -walking. People began by laughing and making fun of this specter -dressed like a man of fashion or an undertaker; but the ghost legend -soon swelled to enormous proportions among the corps de ballet. All -the girls pretended to have met this supernatural being more or less -often. And those who laughed the loudest were not the most at ease. -When he did not show himself, he betrayed his presence or his passing -by accident, comic or serious, for which the general superstition held -him responsible. Had any one met with a fall, or suffered a practical -joke at the hands of one of the other girls, or lost a powderpuff, it -was at once the fault of the ghost, of the Opera ghost. - -After all, who had seen him? You meet so many men in dress-clothes at -the Opera who are not ghosts. But this dress-suit had a peculiarity of -its own. It covered a skeleton. At least, so the ballet-girls said. -And, of course, it had a death's head. - -Was all this serious? The truth is that the idea of the skeleton came -from the description of the ghost given by Joseph Buquet, the chief -scene-shifter, who had really seen the ghost. He had run up against -the ghost on the little staircase, by the footlights, which leads to -"the cellars." He had seen him for a second--for the ghost had -fled--and to any one who cared to listen to him he said: - -"He is extraordinarily thin and his dress-coat hangs on a skeleton -frame. His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils. -You just see two big black holes, as in a dead man's skull. His skin, -which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead, is not white, but -a nasty yellow. His nose is so little worth talking about that you -can't see it side-face; and THE ABSENCE of that nose is a horrible -thing TO LOOK AT. All the hair he has is three or four long dark locks -on his forehead and behind his ears." - -This chief scene-shifter was a serious, sober, steady man, very slow at -imagining things. His words were received with interest and amazement; -and soon there were other people to say that they too had met a man in -dress-clothes with a death's head on his shoulders. Sensible men who -had wind of the story began by saying that Joseph Buquet had been the -victim of a joke played by one of his assistants. And then, one after -the other, there came a series of incidents so curious and so -inexplicable that the very shrewdest people began to feel uneasy. - -For instance, a fireman is a brave fellow! He fears nothing, least of -all fire! Well, the fireman in question, who had gone to make a round -of inspection in the cellars and who, it seems, had ventured a little -farther than usual, suddenly reappeared on the stage, pale, scared, -trembling, with his eyes starting out of his head, and practically -fainted in the arms of the proud mother of little Jammes.[1] And why? -Because he had seen coming toward him, AT THE LEVEL OF HIS HEAD, BUT -WITHOUT A BODY ATTACHED TO IT, A HEAD OF FIRE! And, as I said, a -fireman is not afraid of fire. - -The fireman's name was Pampin. - -The corps de ballet was flung into consternation. At first sight, this -fiery head in no way corresponded with Joseph Buquet's description of -the ghost. But the young ladies soon persuaded themselves that the -ghost had several heads, which he changed about as he pleased. And, of -course, they at once imagined that they were in the greatest danger. -Once a fireman did not hesitate to faint, leaders and front-row and -back-row girls alike had plenty of excuses for the fright that made -them quicken their pace when passing some dark corner or ill-lighted -corridor. Sorelli herself, on the day after the adventure of the -fireman, placed a horseshoe on the table in front of the -stage-door-keeper's box, which every one who entered the Opera -otherwise than as a spectator must touch before setting foot on the -first tread of the staircase. This horse-shoe was not invented by -me--any more than any other part of this story, alas!--and may still be -seen on the table in the passage outside the stage-door-keeper's box, -when you enter the Opera through the court known as the Cour de -l'Administration. - -To return to the evening in question. - -"It's the ghost!" little Jammes had cried. - -An agonizing silence now reigned in the dressing-room. Nothing was -heard but the hard breathing of the girls. At last, Jammes, flinging -herself upon the farthest corner of the wall, with every mark of real -terror on her face, whispered: - -"Listen!" - -Everybody seemed to hear a rustling outside the door. There was no -sound of footsteps. It was like light silk sliding over the panel. -Then it stopped. - -Sorelli tried to show more pluck than the others. She went up to the -door and, in a quavering voice, asked: - -"Who's there?" - -But nobody answered. Then feeling all eyes upon her, watching her last -movement, she made an effort to show courage, and said very loudly: - -"Is there any one behind the door?" - -"Oh, yes, yes! Of course there is!" cried that little dried plum of a -Meg Giry, heroically holding Sorelli back by her gauze skirt. -"Whatever you do, don't open the door! Oh, Lord, don't open the door!" - -But Sorelli, armed with a dagger that never left her, turned the key -and drew back the door, while the ballet-girls retreated to the inner -dressing-room and Meg Giry sighed: - -"Mother! Mother!" - -Sorelli looked into the passage bravely. It was empty; a gas-flame, in -its glass prison, cast a red and suspicious light into the surrounding -darkness, without succeeding in dispelling it. And the dancer slammed -the door again, with a deep sigh. - -"No," she said, "there is no one there." - -"Still, we saw him!" Jammes declared, returning with timid little -steps to her place beside Sorelli. "He must be somewhere prowling -about. I shan't go back to dress. We had better all go down to the -foyer together, at once, for the 'speech,' and we will come up again -together." - -And the child reverently touched the little coral finger-ring which she -wore as a charm against bad luck, while Sorelli, stealthily, with the -tip of her pink right thumb-nail, made a St. Andrew's cross on the -wooden ring which adorned the fourth finger of her left hand. She said -to the little ballet-girls: - -"Come, children, pull yourselves together! I dare say no one has ever -seen the ghost." - -"Yes, yes, we saw him--we saw him just now!" cried the girls. "He had -his death's head and his dress-coat, just as when he appeared to Joseph -Buquet!" - -"And Gabriel saw him too!" said Jammes. "Only yesterday! Yesterday -afternoon--in broad day-light----" - -"Gabriel, the chorus-master?" - -"Why, yes, didn't you know?" - -"And he was wearing his dress-clothes, in broad daylight?" - -"Who? Gabriel?" - -"Why, no, the ghost!" - -"Certainly! Gabriel told me so himself. That's what he knew him by. -Gabriel was in the stage-manager's office. Suddenly the door opened -and the Persian entered. You know the Persian has the evil eye----" - -"Oh, yes!" answered the little ballet-girls in chorus, warding off -ill-luck by pointing their forefinger and little finger at the absent -Persian, while their second and third fingers were bent on the palm and -held down by the thumb. - -"And you know how superstitious Gabriel is," continued Jammes. -"However, he is always polite. When he meets the Persian, he just puts -his hand in his pocket and touches his keys. Well, the moment the -Persian appeared in the doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from his chair -to the lock of the cupboard, so as to touch iron! In doing so, he tore -a whole skirt of his overcoat on a nail. Hurrying to get out of the -room, he banged his forehead against a hat-peg and gave himself a huge -bump; then, suddenly stepping back, he skinned his arm on the screen, -near the piano; he tried to lean on the piano, but the lid fell on his -hands and crushed his fingers; he rushed out of the office like a -madman, slipped on the staircase and came down the whole of the first -flight on his back. I was just passing with mother. We picked him up. -He was covered with bruises and his face was all over blood. We were -frightened out of our lives, but, all at once, he began to thank -Providence that he had got off so cheaply. Then he told us what had -frightened him. He had seen the ghost behind the Persian, THE GHOST -WITH THE DEATH'S HEAD just like Joseph Buquet's description!" - -Jammes had told her story ever so quickly, as though the ghost were at -her heels, and was quite out of breath at the finish. A silence -followed, while Sorelli polished her nails in great excitement. It was -broken by little Giry, who said: - -"Joseph Buquet would do better to hold his tongue." - -"Why should he hold his tongue?" asked somebody. - -"That's mother's opinion," replied Meg, lowering her voice and looking -all about her as though fearing lest other ears than those present -might overhear. - -"And why is it your mother's opinion?" - -"Hush! Mother says the ghost doesn't like being talked about." - -"And why does your mother say so?" - -"Because--because--nothing--" - -This reticence exasperated the curiosity of the young ladies, who -crowded round little Giry, begging her to explain herself. They were -there, side by side, leaning forward simultaneously in one movement of -entreaty and fear, communicating their terror to one another, taking a -keen pleasure in feeling their blood freeze in their veins. - -"I swore not to tell!" gasped Meg. - -But they left her no peace and promised to keep the secret, until Meg, -burning to say all she knew, began, with her eyes fixed on the door: - -"Well, it's because of the private box." - -"What private box?" - -"The ghost's box!" - -"Has the ghost a box? Oh, do tell us, do tell us!" - -"Not so loud!" said Meg. "It's Box Five, you know, the box on the -grand tier, next to the stage-box, on the left." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"I tell you it is. Mother has charge of it. But you swear you won't -say a word?" - -"Of course, of course." - -"Well, that's the ghost's box. No one has had it for over a month, -except the ghost, and orders have been given at the box-office that it -must never be sold." - -"And does the ghost really come there?" - -"Yes." - -"Then somebody does come?" - -"Why, no! The ghost comes, but there is nobody there." - -The little ballet-girls exchanged glances. If the ghost came to the -box, he must be seen, because he wore a dress-coat and a death's head. -This was what they tried to make Meg understand, but she replied: - -"That's just it! The ghost is not seen. And he has no dress-coat and -no head! All that talk about his death's head and his head of fire is -nonsense! There's nothing in it. You only hear him when he is in the -box. Mother has never seen him, but she has heard him. Mother knows, -because she gives him his program." - -Sorelli interfered. - -"Giry, child, you're getting at us!" - -Thereupon little Giry began to cry. - -"I ought to have held my tongue--if mother ever came to know! But I -was quite right, Joseph Buquet had no business to talk of things that -don't concern him--it will bring him bad luck--mother was saying so -last night----" - -There was a sound of hurried and heavy footsteps in the passage and a -breathless voice cried: - -"Cecile! Cecile! Are you there?" - -"It's mother's voice," said Jammes. "What's the matter?" - -She opened the door. A respectable lady, built on the lines of a -Pomeranian grenadier, burst into the dressing-room and dropped groaning -into a vacant arm-chair. Her eyes rolled madly in her brick-dust -colored face. - -"How awful!" she said. "How awful!" - -"What? What?" - -"Joseph Buquet!" - -"What about him?" - -"Joseph Buquet is dead!" - -The room became filled with exclamations, with astonished outcries, -with scared requests for explanations. - -"Yes, he was found hanging in the third-floor cellar!" - -"It's the ghost!" little Giry blurted, as though in spite of herself; -but she at once corrected herself, with her hands pressed to her mouth: -"No, no!--I, didn't say it!--I didn't say it!----" - -All around her, her panic-stricken companions repeated under their -breaths: - -"Yes--it must be the ghost!" - -Sorelli was very pale. - -"I shall never be able to recite my speech," she said. - -Ma Jammes gave her opinion, while she emptied a glass of liqueur that -happened to be standing on a table; the ghost must have something to do -with it. - -The truth is that no one ever knew how Joseph Buquet met his death. -The verdict at the inquest was "natural suicide." In his Memoirs of -Manager, M. Moncharmin, one of the joint managers who succeeded MM. -Debienne and Poligny, describes the incident as follows: - -"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. Debienne and -Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was in the manager's -office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly came darting in. He -seemed half mad and told me that the body of a scene-shifter had been -found hanging in the third cellar under the stage, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. I shouted: - -"'Come and cut him down!' - -"By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob's ladder, -the man was no longer hanging from his rope!" - -So this is an event which M. Moncharmin thinks natural. A man hangs at -the end of a rope; they go to cut him down; the rope has disappeared. -Oh, M. Moncharmin found a very simple explanation! Listen to him: - -"It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost no -time in taking their precautions against the evil eye." - -There you are! Picture the corps de ballet scuttling down the Jacob's -ladder and dividing the suicide's rope among themselves in less time -than it takes to write! When, on the other hand, I think of the exact -spot where the body was discovered--the third cellar underneath the -stage!--imagine that SOMEBODY must have been interested in seeing that -the rope disappeared after it had effected its purpose; and time will -show if I am wrong. - -The horrid news soon spread all over the Opera, where Joseph Buquet was -very popular. The dressing-rooms emptied and the ballet-girls, -crowding around Sorelli like timid sheep around their shepherdess, made -for the foyer through the ill-lit passages and staircases, trotting as -fast as their little pink legs could carry them. - - -[1] I have the anecdote, which is quite authentic, from M. Pedro -Gailhard himself, the late manager of the Opera. - - - - -Chapter II The New Margarita - - -On the first landing, Sorelli ran against the Comte de Chagny, who was -coming up-stairs. The count, who was generally so calm, seemed greatly -excited. - -"I was just going to you," he said, taking off his hat. "Oh, Sorelli, -what an evening! And Christine Daae: what a triumph!" - -"Impossible!" said Meg Giry. "Six months ago, she used to sing like a -CROCK! But do let us get by, my dear count," continues the brat, with -a saucy curtsey. "We are going to inquire after a poor man who was -found hanging by the neck." - -Just then the acting-manager came fussing past and stopped when he -heard this remark. - -"What!" he exclaimed roughly. "Have you girls heard already? Well, -please forget about it for tonight--and above all don't let M. Debienne -and M. Poligny hear; it would upset them too much on their last day." - -They all went on to the foyer of the ballet, which was already full of -people. The Comte de Chagny was right; no gala performance ever -equalled this one. All the great composers of the day had conducted -their own works in turns. Faure and Krauss had sung; and, on that -evening, Christine Daae had revealed her true self, for the first time, -to the astonished and enthusiastic audience. Gounod had conducted the -Funeral March of a Marionnette; Reyer, his beautiful overture to -Siguar; Saint Saens, the Danse Macabre and a Reverie Orientale; -Massenet, an unpublished Hungarian march; Guiraud, his Carnaval; -Delibes, the Valse Lente from Sylvia and the Pizzicati from Coppelia. -Mlle. Krauss had sung the bolero in the Vespri Siciliani; and Mlle. -Denise Bloch the drinking song in Lucrezia Borgia. - -But the real triumph was reserved for Christine Daae, who had begun by -singing a few passages from Romeo and Juliet. It was the first time -that the young artist sang in this work of Gounod, which had not been -transferred to the Opera and which was revived at the Opera Comique -after it had been produced at the old Theatre Lyrique by Mme. Carvalho. -Those who heard her say that her voice, in these passages, was -seraphic; but this was nothing to the superhuman notes that she gave -forth in the prison scene and the final trio in FAUST, which she sang -in the place of La Carlotta, who was ill. No one had ever heard or -seen anything like it. - -Daae revealed a new Margarita that night, a Margarita of a splendor, a -radiance hitherto unsuspected. The whole house went mad, rising to its -feet, shouting, cheering, clapping, while Christine sobbed and fainted -in the arms of her fellow-singers and had to be carried to her -dressing-room. A few subscribers, however, protested. Why had so great -a treasure been kept from them all that time? Till then, Christine -Daae had played a good Siebel to Carlotta's rather too splendidly -material Margarita. And it had needed Carlotta's incomprehensible and -inexcusable absence from this gala night for the little Daae, at a -moment's warning, to show all that she could do in a part of the -program reserved for the Spanish diva! Well, what the subscribers -wanted to know was, why had Debienne and Poligny applied to Daae, when -Carlotta was taken ill? Did they know of her hidden genius? And, if -they knew of it, why had they kept it hidden? And why had she kept it -hidden? Oddly enough, she was not known to have a professor of singing -at that moment. She had often said she meant to practise alone for the -future. The whole thing was a mystery. - -The Comte de Chagny, standing up in his box, listened to all this -frenzy and took part in it by loudly applauding. Philippe Georges -Marie Comte de Chagny was just forty-one years of age. He was a great -aristocrat and a good-looking man, above middle height and with -attractive features, in spite of his hard forehead and his rather cold -eyes. He was exquisitely polite to the women and a little haughty to -the men, who did not always forgive him for his successes in society. -He had an excellent heart and an irreproachable conscience. On the -death of old Count Philibert, he became the head of one of the oldest -and most distinguished families in France, whose arms dated back to the -fourteenth century. The Chagnys owned a great deal of property; and, -when the old count, who was a widower, died, it was no easy task for -Philippe to accept the management of so large an estate. His two -sisters and his brother, Raoul, would not hear of a division and waived -their claim to their shares, leaving themselves entirely in Philippe's -hands, as though the right of primogeniture had never ceased to exist. -When the two sisters married, on the same day, they received their -portion from their brother, not as a thing rightfully belonging to -them, but as a dowry for which they thanked him. - -The Comtesse de Chagny, nee de Moerogis de La Martyniere, had died in -giving birth to Raoul, who was born twenty years after his elder -brother. At the time of the old count's death, Raoul was twelve years -of age. Philippe busied himself actively with the youngster's -education. He was admirably assisted in this work first by his sisters -and afterward by an old aunt, the widow of a naval officer, who lived -at Brest and gave young Raoul a taste for the sea. The lad entered the -Borda training-ship, finished his course with honors and quietly made -his trip round the world. Thanks to powerful influence, he had just -been appointed a member of the official expedition on board the Requin, -which was to be sent to the Arctic Circle in search of the survivors of -the D'Artoi's expedition, of whom nothing had been heard for three -years. Meanwhile, he was enjoying a long furlough which would not be -over for six months; and already the dowagers of the Faubourg -Saint-Germain were pitying the handsome and apparently delicate -stripling for the hard work in store for him. - -The shyness of the sailor-lad--I was almost saying his innocence--was -remarkable. He seemed to have but just left the women's apron-strings. -As a matter of fact, petted as he was by his two sisters and his old -aunt, he had retained from this purely feminine education manners that -were almost candid and stamped with a charm that nothing had yet been -able to sully. He was a little over twenty-one years of age and looked -eighteen. He had a small, fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes and a -complexion like a girl's. - -Philippe spoiled Raoul. To begin with, he was very proud of him and -pleased to foresee a glorious career for his junior in the navy in -which one of their ancestors, the famous Chagny de La Roche, had held -the rank of admiral. He took advantage of the young man's leave of -absence to show him Paris, with all its luxurious and artistic -delights. The count considered that, at Raoul's age, it is not good to -be too good. Philippe himself had a character that was very -well-balanced in work and pleasure alike; his demeanor was always -faultless; and he was incapable of setting his brother a bad example. -He took him with him wherever he went. He even introduced him to the -foyer of the ballet. I know that the count was said to be "on terms" -with Sorelli. But it could hardly be reckoned as a crime for this -nobleman, a bachelor, with plenty of leisure, especially since his -sisters were settled, to come and spend an hour or two after dinner in -the company of a dancer, who, though not so very, very witty, had the -finest eyes that ever were seen! And, besides, there are places where -a true Parisian, when he has the rank of the Comte de Chagny, is bound -to show himself; and at that time the foyer of the ballet at the Opera -was one of those places. - -Lastly, Philippe would perhaps not have taken his brother behind the -scenes of the Opera if Raoul had not been the first to ask him, -repeatedly renewing his request with a gentle obstinacy which the count -remembered at a later date. - -On that evening, Philippe, after applauding the Daae, turned to Raoul -and saw that he was quite pale. - -"Don't you see," said Raoul, "that the woman's fainting?" - -"You look like fainting yourself," said the count. "What's the matter?" - -But Raoul had recovered himself and was standing up. - -"Let's go and see," he said, "she never sang like that before." - -The count gave his brother a curious smiling glance and seemed quite -pleased. They were soon at the door leading from the house to the -stage. Numbers of subscribers were slowly making their way through. -Raoul tore his gloves without knowing what he was doing and Philippe -had much too kind a heart to laugh at him for his impatience. But he -now understood why Raoul was absent-minded when spoken to and why he -always tried to turn every conversation to the subject of the Opera. - -They reached the stage and pushed through the crowd of gentlemen, -scene-shifters, supers and chorus-girls, Raoul leading the way, feeling -that his heart no longer belonged to him, his face set with passion, -while Count Philippe followed him with difficulty and continued to -smile. At the back of the stage, Raoul had to stop before the inrush -of the little troop of ballet-girls who blocked the passage which he -was trying to enter. More than one chaffing phrase darted from little -made-up lips, to which he did not reply; and at last he was able to -pass, and dived into the semi-darkness of a corridor ringing with the -name of "Daae! Daae!" The count was surprised to find that Raoul knew -the way. He had never taken him to Christine's himself and came to the -conclusion that Raoul must have gone there alone while the count stayed -talking in the foyer with Sorelli, who often asked him to wait until it -was her time to "go on" and sometimes handed him the little gaiters in -which she ran down from her dressing-room to preserve the spotlessness -of her satin dancing-shoes and her flesh-colored tights. Sorelli had -an excuse; she had lost her mother. - -Postponing his usual visit to Sorelli for a few minutes, the count -followed his brother down the passage that led to Daae's dressing-room -and saw that it had never been so crammed as on that evening, when the -whole house seemed excited by her success and also by her fainting fit. -For the girl had not yet come to; and the doctor of the theater had -just arrived at the moment when Raoul entered at his heels. Christine, -therefore, received the first aid of the one, while opening her eyes in -the arms of the other. The count and many more remained crowding in -the doorway. - -"Don't you think, Doctor, that those gentlemen had better clear the -room?" asked Raoul coolly. "There's no breathing here." - -"You're quite right," said the doctor. - -And he sent every one away, except Raoul and the maid, who looked at -Raoul with eyes of the most undisguised astonishment. She had never -seen him before and yet dared not question him; and the doctor imagined -that the young man was only acting as he did because he had the right -to. The viscount, therefore, remained in the room watching Christine -as she slowly returned to life, while even the joint managers, Debienne -and Poligny, who had come to offer their sympathy and congratulations, -found themselves thrust into the passage among the crowd of dandies. -The Comte de Chagny, who was one of those standing outside, laughed: - -"Oh, the rogue, the rogue!" And he added, under his breath: "Those -youngsters with their school-girl airs! So he's a Chagny after all!" - -He turned to go to Sorelli's dressing-room, but met her on the way, -with her little troop of trembling ballet-girls, as we have seen. - -Meanwhile, Christine Daae uttered a deep sigh, which was answered by a -groan. She turned her head, saw Raoul and started. She looked at the -doctor, on whom she bestowed a smile, then at her maid, then at Raoul -again. - -"Monsieur," she said, in a voice not much above a whisper, "who are -you?" - -"Mademoiselle," replied the young man, kneeling on one knee and -pressing a fervent kiss on the diva's hand, "I AM THE LITTLE BOY WHO -WENT INTO THE SEA TO RESCUE YOUR SCARF." - -Christine again looked at the doctor and the maid; and all three began -to laugh. - -Raoul turned very red and stood up. - -"Mademoiselle," he said, "since you are pleased not to recognize me, I -should like to say something to you in private, something very -important." - -"When I am better, do you mind?" And her voice shook. "You have been -very good." - -"Yes, you must go," said the doctor, with his pleasantest smile. -"Leave me to attend to mademoiselle." - -"I am not ill now," said Christine suddenly, with strange and -unexpected energy. - -She rose and passed her hand over her eyelids. - -"Thank you, Doctor. I should like to be alone. Please go away, all of -you. Leave me. I feel very restless this evening." - -The doctor tried to make a short protest, but, perceiving the girl's -evident agitation, he thought the best remedy was not to thwart her. -And he went away, saying to Raoul, outside: - -"She is not herself to-night. She is usually so gentle." - -Then he said good night and Raoul was left alone. The whole of this -part of the theater was now deserted. The farewell ceremony was no -doubt taking place in the foyer of the ballet. Raoul thought that Daae -might go to it and he waited in the silent solitude, even hiding in the -favoring shadow of a doorway. He felt a terrible pain at his heart and -it was of this that he wanted to speak to Daae without delay. - -Suddenly the dressing-room door opened and the maid came out by -herself, carrying bundles. He stopped her and asked how her mistress -was. The woman laughed and said that she was quite well, but that he -must not disturb her, for she wished to be left alone. And she passed -on. One idea alone filled Raoul's burning brain: of course, Daae -wished to be left alone FOR HIM! Had he not told her that he wanted to -speak to her privately? - -Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his ear to -the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his hand dropped. -He had heard A MAN'S VOICE in the dressing-room, saying, in a curiously -masterful tone: - -"Christine, you must love me!" - -And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though -accompanied by tears, replied: - -"How can you talk like that? WHEN I SING ONLY FOR YOU!" - -Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain. His heart, which had -seemed gone for ever, returned to his breast and was throbbing loudly. -The whole passage echoed with its beating and Raoul's ears were -deafened. Surely, if his heart continued to make such a noise, they -would hear it inside, they would open the door and the young man would -be turned away in disgrace. What a position for a Chagny! To be -caught listening behind a door! He took his heart in his two hands to -make it stop. - -The man's voice spoke again: "Are you very tired?" - -"Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!" Christine replied. - -"Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice, -"and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. THE ANGELS -WEPT TONIGHT." - -Raoul heard nothing after that. Nevertheless, he did not go away, but, -as though he feared lest he should be caught, he returned to his dark -corner, determined to wait for the man to leave the room. At one and -the same time, he had learned what love meant, and hatred. He knew -that he loved. He wanted to know whom he hated. To his great -astonishment, the door opened and Christine Daae appeared, wrapped in -furs, with her face hidden in a lace veil, alone. She closed the door -behind her, but Raoul observed that she did not lock it. She passed -him. He did not even follow her with his eyes, for his eyes were fixed -on the door, which did not open again. - -When the passage was once more deserted, he crossed it, opened the door -of the dressing-room, went in and shut the door. He found himself in -absolute darkness. The gas had been turned out. - -"There is some one here!" said Raoul, with his back against the closed -door, in a quivering voice. "What are you hiding for?" - -All was darkness and silence. Raoul heard only the sound of his own -breathing. He quite failed to see that the indiscretion of his conduct -was exceeding all bounds. - -"You shan't leave this until I let you!" he exclaimed. "If you don't -answer, you are a coward! But I'll expose you!" - -And he struck a match. The blaze lit up the room. There was no one in -the room! Raoul, first turning the key in the door, lit the gas-jets. -He went into the dressing-closet, opened the cupboards, hunted about, -felt the walls with his moist hands. Nothing! - -"Look here!" he said, aloud. "Am I going mad?" - -He stood for ten minutes listening to the gas flaring in the silence of -the empty room; lover though he was, he did not even think of stealing -a ribbon that would have given him the perfume of the woman he loved. -He went out, not knowing what he was doing nor where he was going. At -a given moment in his wayward progress, an icy draft struck him in the -face. He found himself at the bottom of a staircase, down which, -behind him, a procession of workmen were carrying a sort of stretcher, -covered with a white sheet. - -"Which is the way out, please?" he asked of one of the men. - -"Straight in front of you, the door is open. But let us pass." - -Pointing to the stretcher, he asked mechanically: "What's that?" - -The workmen answered: - -"'That' is Joseph Buquet, who was found in the third cellar, hanging -between a farm-house and a scene from the ROI DE LAHORE." - -He took off his hat, fell back to make room for the procession and went -out. - - - -Chapter III The Mysterious Reason - - -During this time, the farewell ceremony was taking place. I have -already said that this magnificent function was being given on the -occasion of the retirement of M. Debienne and M. Poligny, who had -determined to "die game," as we say nowadays. They had been assisted -in the realization of their ideal, though melancholy, program by all -that counted in the social and artistic world of Paris. All these -people met, after the performance, in the foyer of the ballet, where -Sorelli waited for the arrival of the retiring managers with a glass of -champagne in her hand and a little prepared speech at the tip of her -tongue. Behind her, the members of the Corps de Ballet, young and old, -discussed the events of the day in whispers or exchanged discreet -signals with their friends, a noisy crowd of whom surrounded the -supper-tables arranged along the slanting floor. - -A few of the dancers had already changed into ordinary dress; but most -of them wore their skirts of gossamer gauze; and all had thought it the -right thing to put on a special face for the occasion: all, that is, -except little Jammes, whose fifteen summers--happy age!--seemed already -to have forgotten the ghost and the death of Joseph Buquet. She never -ceased to laugh and chatter, to hop about and play practical jokes, -until Mm. Debienne and Poligny appeared on the steps of the foyer, when -she was severely called to order by the impatient Sorelli. - -Everybody remarked that the retiring managers looked cheerful, as is -the Paris way. None will ever be a true Parisian who has not learned -to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one of sadness, boredom -or indifference over his inward joy. You know that one of your friends -is in trouble; do not try to console him: he will tell you that he is -already comforted; but, should he have met with good fortune, be -careful how you congratulate him: he thinks it so natural that he is -surprised that you should speak of it. In Paris, our lives are one -masked ball; and the foyer of the ballet is the last place in which two -men so "knowing" as M. Debienne and M. Poligny would have made the -mistake of betraying their grief, however genuine it might be. And -they were already smiling rather too broadly upon Sorelli, who had -begun to recite her speech, when an exclamation from that little madcap -of a Jammes broke the smile of the managers so brutally that the -expression of distress and dismay that lay beneath it became apparent -to all eyes: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -Jammes yelled these words in a tone of unspeakable terror; and her -finger pointed, among the crowd of dandies, to a face so pallid, so -lugubrious and so ugly, with two such deep black cavities under the -straddling eyebrows, that the death's head in question immediately -scored a huge success. - -"The Opera ghost! The Opera ghost!" Everybody laughed and pushed his -neighbor and wanted to offer the Opera ghost a drink, but he was gone. -He had slipped through the crowd; and the others vainly hunted for him, -while two old gentlemen tried to calm little Jammes and while little -Giry stood screaming like a peacock. - -Sorelli was furious; she had not been able to finish her speech; the -managers, had kissed her, thanked her and run away as fast as the ghost -himself. No one was surprised at this, for it was known that they were -to go through the same ceremony on the floor above, in the foyer of the -singers, and that finally they were themselves to receive their -personal friends, for the last time, in the great lobby outside the -managers' office, where a regular supper would be served. - -Here they found the new managers, M. Armand Moncharmin and M. Firmin -Richard, whom they hardly knew; nevertheless, they were lavish in -protestations of friendship and received a thousand flattering -compliments in reply, so that those of the guests who had feared that -they had a rather tedious evening in store for them at once put on -brighter faces. The supper was almost gay and a particularly clever -speech of the representative of the government, mingling the glories of -the past with the successes of the future, caused the greatest -cordiality to prevail. - -The retiring managers had already handed over to their successors the -two tiny master-keys which opened all the doors--thousands of doors--of -the Opera house. And those little keys, the object of general -curiosity, were being passed from hand to hand, when the attention of -some of the guests was diverted by their discovery, at the end of the -table, of that strange, wan and fantastic face, with the hollow eyes, -which had already appeared in the foyer of the ballet and been greeted -by little Jammes' exclamation: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -There sat the ghost, as natural as could be, except that he neither ate -nor drank. Those who began by looking at him with a smile ended by -turning away their heads, for the sight of him at once provoked the -most funereal thoughts. No one repeated the joke of the foyer, no one -exclaimed: - -"There's the Opera ghost!" - -He himself did not speak a word and his very neighbors could not have -stated at what precise moment he had sat down between them; but every -one felt that if the dead did ever come and sit at the table of the -living, they could not cut a more ghastly figure. The friends of -Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin thought that this lean and skinny -guest was an acquaintance of Debienne's or Poligny's, while Debienne's -and Poligny's friends believed that the cadaverous individual belonged -to Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin's party. - -The result was that no request was made for an explanation; no -unpleasant remark; no joke in bad taste, which might have offended this -visitor from the tomb. A few of those present who knew the story of -the ghost and the description of him given by the chief -scene-shifter--they did not know of Joseph Buquet's death--thought, in -their own minds, that the man at the end of the table might easily have -passed for him; and yet, according to the story, the ghost had no nose -and the person in question had. But M. Moncharmin declares, in his -Memoirs, that the guest's nose was transparent: "long, thin and -transparent" are his exact words. I, for my part, will add that this -might very well apply to a false nose. M. Moncharmin may have taken -for transparency what was only shininess. Everybody knows that -orthopaedic science provides beautiful false noses for those who have -lost their noses naturally or as the result of an operation. - -Did the ghost really take a seat at the managers' supper-table that -night, uninvited? And can we be sure that the figure was that of the -Opera ghost himself? Who would venture to assert as much? I mention -the incident, not because I wish for a second to make the reader -believe--or even to try to make him believe--that the ghost was capable -of such a sublime piece of impudence; but because, after all, the thing -is impossible. - -M. Armand Moncharmin, in chapter eleven of his Memoirs, says: - -"When I think of this first evening, I can not separate the secret -confided to us by MM. Debienne and Poligny in their office from the -presence at our supper of that GHOSTLY person whom none of us knew." - -What happened was this: Mm. Debienne and Poligny, sitting at the -center of the table, had not seen the man with the death's head. -Suddenly he began to speak. - -"The ballet-girls are right," he said. "The death of that poor Buquet -is perhaps not so natural as people think." - -Debienne and Poligny gave a start. - -"Is Buquet dead?" they cried. - -"Yes," replied the man, or the shadow of a man, quietly. "He was -found, this evening, hanging in the third cellar, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore." - -The two managers, or rather ex-managers, at once rose and stared -strangely at the speaker. They were more excited than they need have -been, that is to say, more excited than any one need be by the -announcement of the suicide of a chief scene-shifter. They looked at -each other. They, had both turned whiter than the table-cloth. At -last, Debienne made a sign to Mm. Richard and Moncharmin; Poligny -muttered a few words of excuse to the guests; and all four went into -the managers' office. I leave M. Moncharmin to complete the story. In -his Memoirs, he says: - -"Mm. Debienne and Poligny seemed to grow more and more excited, and -they appeared to have something very difficult to tell us. First, they -asked us if we knew the man, sitting at the end of the table, who had -told them of the death of Joseph Buquet; and, when we answered in the -negative, they looked still more concerned. They took the master-keys -from our hands, stared at them for a moment and advised us to have new -locks made, with the greatest secrecy, for the rooms, closets and -presses that we might wish to have hermetically closed. They said this -so funnily that we began to laugh and to ask if there were thieves at -the Opera. They replied that there was something worse, which was the -GHOST. We began to laugh again, feeling sure that they were indulging -in some joke that was intended to crown our little entertainment. -Then, at their request, we became 'serious,' resolving to humor them -and to enter into the spirit of the game. They told us that they never -would have spoken to us of the ghost, if they had not received formal -orders from the ghost himself to ask us to be pleasant to him and to -grant any request that he might make. However, in their relief at -leaving a domain where that tyrannical shade held sway, they had -hesitated until the last moment to tell us this curious story, which -our skeptical minds were certainly not prepared to entertain. But the -announcement of the death of Joseph Buquet had served them as a brutal -reminder that, whenever they had disregarded the ghost's wishes, some -fantastic or disastrous event had brought them to a sense of their -dependence. - -"During these unexpected utterances made in a tone of the most secret -and important confidence, I looked at Richard. Richard, in his student -days, had acquired a great reputation for practical joking, and he -seemed to relish the dish which was being served up to him in his turn. -He did not miss a morsel of it, though the seasoning was a little -gruesome because of the death of Buquet. He nodded his head sadly, -while the others spoke, and his features assumed the air of a man who -bitterly regretted having taken over the Opera, now that he knew that -there was a ghost mixed up in the business. I could think of nothing -better than to give him a servile imitation of this attitude of -despair. However, in spite of all our efforts, we could not, at the -finish, help bursting out laughing in the faces of MM. Debienne and -Poligny, who, seeing us pass straight from the gloomiest state of mind -to one of the most insolent merriment, acted as though they thought -that we had gone mad. - -"The joke became a little tedious; and Richard asked half-seriously and -half in jest: - -"'But, after all, what does this ghost of yours want?' - -"M. Poligny went to his desk and returned with a copy of the -memorandum-book. The memorandum-book begins with the well-known words -saying that 'the management of the Opera shall give to the performance -of the National Academy of Music the splendor that becomes the first -lyric stage in France' and ends with Clause 98, which says that the -privilege can be withdrawn if the manager infringes the conditions -stipulated in the memorandum-book. This is followed by the conditions, -which are four in number. - -"The copy produced by M. Poligny was written in black ink and exactly -similar to that in our possession, except that, at the end, it -contained a paragraph in red ink and in a queer, labored handwriting, -as though it had been produced by dipping the heads of matches into the -ink, the writing of a child that has never got beyond the down-strokes -and has not learned to join its letters. This paragraph ran, word for -word, as follows: - -"'5. Or if the manager, in any month, delay for more than a fortnight -the payment of the allowance which he shall make to the Opera ghost, an -allowance of twenty thousand francs a month, say two hundred and forty -thousand francs a year.' - -"M. Poligny pointed with a hesitating finger to this last clause, which -we certainly did not expect. - -"'Is this all? Does he not want anything else?' asked Richard, with -the greatest coolness. - -"'Yes, he does,' replied Poligny. - -"And he turned over the pages of the memorandum-book until he came to -the clause specifying the days on which certain private boxes were to -be reserved for the free use of the president of the republic, the -ministers and so on. At the end of this clause, a line had been added, -also in red ink: - -"'Box Five on the grand tier shall be placed at the disposal of the -Opera ghost for every performance.' - -"When we saw this, there was nothing else for us to do but to rise from -our chairs, shake our two predecessors warmly by the hand and -congratulate them on thinking of this charming little joke, which -proved that the old French sense of humor was never likely to become -extinct. Richard added that he now understood why MM. Debienne and -Poligny were retiring from the management of the National Academy of -Music. Business was impossible with so unreasonable a ghost. - -"'Certainly, two hundred and forty thousand francs are not be picked up -for the asking,' said M. Poligny, without moving a muscle of his face. -'And have you considered what the loss over Box Five meant to us? We -did not sell it once; and not only that, but we had to return the -subscription: why, it's awful! We really can't work to keep ghosts! -We prefer to go away!' - -"'Yes,' echoed M. Debienne, 'we prefer to go away. Let us go.'" - -"And he stood up. Richard said: 'But, after all all, it seems to me -that you were much too kind to the ghost. If I had such a troublesome -ghost as that, I should not hesitate to have him arrested.' - -"'But how? Where?' they cried, in chorus. 'We have never seen him!' - -"'But when he comes to his box?' - -"'WE HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM IN HIS BOX.' - -"'Then sell it.' - -"'Sell the Opera ghost's box! Well, gentlemen, try it.' - -"Thereupon we all four left the office. Richard and I had 'never -laughed so much in our lives.'" - - - -Chapter IV Box Five - - -Armand Moncharmin wrote such voluminous Memoirs during the fairly long -period of his co-management that we may well ask if he ever found time -to attend to the affairs of the Opera otherwise than by telling what -went on there. M. Moncharmin did not know a note of music, but he -called the minister of education and fine arts by his Christian name, -had dabbled a little in society journalism and enjoyed a considerable -private income. Lastly, he was a charming fellow and showed that he -was not lacking in intelligence, for, as soon as he made up his mind to -be a sleeping partner in the Opera, he selected the best possible -active manager and went straight to Firmin Richard. - -Firmin Richard was a very distinguished composer, who had published a -number of successful pieces of all kinds and who liked nearly every -form of music and every sort of musician. Clearly, therefore, it was -the duty of every sort of musician to like M. Firmin Richard. The only -things to be said against him were that he was rather masterful in his -ways and endowed with a very hasty temper. - -The first few days which the partners spent at the Opera were given -over to the delight of finding themselves the head of so magnificent an -enterprise; and they had forgotten all about that curious, fantastic -story of the ghost, when an incident occurred that proved to them that -the joke--if joke it were--was not over. M. Firmin Richard reached his -office that morning at eleven o'clock. His secretary, M. Remy, showed -him half a dozen letters which he had not opened because they were -marked "private." One of the letters had at once attracted Richard's -attention not only because the envelope was addressed in red ink, but -because he seemed to have seen the writing before. He soon remembered -that it was the red handwriting in which the memorandum-book had been -so curiously completed. He recognized the clumsy childish hand. He -opened the letter and read: - -DEAR MR. MANAGER: - -I am sorry to have to trouble you at a time when you must be so very -busy, renewing important engagements, signing fresh ones and generally -displaying your excellent taste. I know what you have done for -Carlotta, Sorelli and little Jammes and for a few others whose -admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected. - -Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them to La -Carlotta, who sings like a squirt and who ought never to have been -allowed to leave the Ambassadeurs and the Cafe Jacquin; nor to La -Sorelli, who owes her success mainly to the coach-builders; nor to -little Jammes, who dances like a calf in a field. And I am not -speaking of Christine Daae either, though her genius is certain, -whereas your jealousy prevents her from creating any important part. -When all is said, you are free to conduct your little business as you -think best, are you not? - -All the same, I should like to take advantage of the fact that you have -not yet turned Christine Daae out of doors by hearing her this evening -in the part of Siebel, as that of Margarita has been forbidden her -since her triumph of the other evening; and I will ask you not to -dispose of my box to-day nor on the FOLLOWING DAYS, for I can not end -this letter without telling you how disagreeably surprised I have been -once or twice, to hear, on arriving at the Opera, that my box had been -sold, at the box-office, by your orders. - -I did not protest, first, because I dislike scandal, and, second, -because I thought that your predecessors, MM. Debienne and Poligny, who -were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, to mention -my little fads to you. I have now received a reply from those -gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, and this reply proves -that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, consequently, that you -are treating me with outrageous contempt. IF YOU WISH TO LIVE IN -PEACE, YOU MUST NOT BEGIN BY TAKING AWAY MY PRIVATE BOX. - -Believe me to be, dear Mr. Manager, without prejudice to these little -observations, - - Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant, - OPERA GHOST. - -The letter was accompanied by a cutting from the agony-column of the -Revue Theatrale, which ran: - -O. G.--There is no excuse for R. and M. We told them and left your -memorandum-book in their hands. Kind regards. - -M. Firmin Richard had hardly finished reading this letter when M. -Armand Moncharmin entered, carrying one exactly similar. They looked -at each other and burst out laughing. - -"They are keeping up the joke," said M. Richard, "but I don't call it -funny." - -"What does it all mean?" asked M. Moncharmin. "Do they imagine that, -because they have been managers of the Opera, we are going to let them -have a box for an indefinite period?" - -"I am not in the mood to let myself be laughed at long," said Firmin -Richard. - -"It's harmless enough," observed Armand Moncharmin. "What is it they -really want? A box for to-night?" - -M. Firmin Richard told his secretary to send Box Five on the grand tier -to Mm. Debienne and Poligny, if it was not sold. It was not. It was -sent off to them. Debienne lived at the corner of the Rue Scribe and -the Boulevard des Capucines; Poligny, in the Rue Auber. O. Ghost's two -letters had been posted at the Boulevard des Capucines post-office, as -Moncharmin remarked after examining the envelopes. - -"You see!" said Richard. - -They shrugged their shoulders and regretted that two men of that age -should amuse themselves with such childish tricks. - -"They might have been civil, for all that!" said Moncharmin. "Did you -notice how they treat us with regard to Carlotta, Sorelli and Little -Jammes?" - -"Why, my dear fellow, these two are mad with jealousy! To think that -they went to the expense of, an advertisement in the Revue Theatrale! -Have they nothing better to do?" - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "they seem to be greatly interested in -that little Christine Daae!" - -"You know as well as I do that she has the reputation of being quite -good," said Richard. - -"Reputations are easily obtained," replied Moncharmin. "Haven't I a -reputation for knowing all about music? And I don't know one key from -another." - -"Don't be afraid: you never had that reputation," Richard declared. - -Thereupon he ordered the artists to be shown in, who, for the last two -hours, had been walking up and down outside the door behind which fame -and fortune--or dismissal--awaited them. - -The whole day was spent in discussing, negotiating, signing or -cancelling contracts; and the two overworked managers went to bed -early, without so much as casting a glance at Box Five to see whether -M. Debienne and M. Poligny were enjoying the performance. - -Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost: - -DEAR, MR. MANAGER: - -Thanks. Charming evening. Daae exquisite. Choruses want waking up. -Carlotta a splendid commonplace instrument. Will write you soon for -the 240,000 francs, or 233,424 fr. 70 c., to be correct. Mm. Debienne -and Poligny have sent me the 6,575 fr. 30 c. representing the first ten -days of my allowance for the current year; their privileges finished on -the evening of the tenth inst. - -Kind regards. O. G. - -On the other hand, there was a letter from Mm. Debienne and Poligny: - -GENTLEMEN: - -We are much obliged for your kind thought of us, but you will easily -understand that the prospect of again hearing Faust, pleasant though it -is to ex-managers of the Opera, can not make us forget that we have no -right to occupy Box Five on the grand tier, which is the exclusive -property of HIM of whom we spoke to you when we went through the -memorandum-book with you for the last time. See Clause 98, final -paragraph. - -Accept, gentlemen, etc. - -"Oh, those fellows are beginning to annoy me!" shouted Firmin Richard, -snatching up the letter. - -And that evening Box Five was sold. - -The next morning, Mm. Richard and Moncharmin, on reaching their office, -found an inspector's report relating to an incident that had happened, -the night before, in Box Five. I give the essential part of the report: - -I was obliged to call in a municipal guard twice, this evening, to -clear Box Five on the grand tier, once at the beginning and once in the -middle of the second act. The occupants, who arrived as the curtain -rose on the second act, created a regular scandal by their laughter and -their ridiculous observations. There were cries of "Hush!" all around -them and the whole house was beginning to protest, when the box-keeper -came to fetch me. I entered the box and said what I thought necessary. -The people did not seem to me to be in their right mind; and they made -stupid remarks. I said that, if the noise was repeated, I should be -compelled to clear the box. The moment I left, I heard the laughing -again, with fresh protests from the house. I returned with a municipal -guard, who turned them out. They protested, still laughing, saying -they would not go unless they had their money back. At last, they -became quiet and I allowed them to enter the box again. The laughter -at once recommenced; and, this time, I had them turned out definitely. - -"Send for the inspector," said Richard to his secretary, who had -already read the report and marked it with blue pencil. - -M. Remy, the secretary, had foreseen the order and called the inspector -at once. - -"Tell us what happened," said Richard bluntly. - -The inspector began to splutter and referred to the report. - -"Well, but what were those people laughing at?" asked Moncharmin. - -"They must have been dining, sir, and seemed more inclined to lark -about than to listen to good music. The moment they entered the box, -they came out again and called the box-keeper, who asked them what they -wanted. They said, 'Look in the box: there's no one there, is there?' -'No,' said the woman. 'Well,' said they, 'when we went in, we heard a -voice saying THAT THE BOX WAS TAKEN!'" - -M. Moncharmin could not help smiling as he looked at M. Richard; but M. -Richard did not smile. He himself had done too much in that way in his -time not to recognize, in the inspector's story, all the marks of one -of those practical jokes which begin by amusing and end by enraging the -victims. The inspector, to curry favor with M. Moncharmin, who was -smiling, thought it best to give a smile too. A most unfortunate -smile! M. Richard glared at his subordinate, who thenceforth made it -his business to display a face of utter consternation. - -"However, when the people arrived," roared Richard, "there was no one -in the box, was there?" - -"Not a soul, sir, not a soul! Nor in the box on the right, nor in the -box on the left: not a soul, sir, I swear! The box-keeper told it me -often enough, which proves that it was all a joke." - -"Oh, you agree, do you?" said Richard. "You agree! It's a joke! And -you think it funny, no doubt?" - -"I think it in very bad taste, sir." - -"And what did the box-keeper say?" - -"Oh, she just said that it was the Opera ghost. That's all she said!" - -And the inspector grinned. But he soon found that he had made a -mistake in grinning, for the words had no sooner left his mouth than M. -Richard, from gloomy, became furious. - -"Send for the box-keeper!" he shouted. "Send for her! This minute! -This minute! And bring her in to me here! And turn all those people -out!" - -The inspector tried to protest, but Richard closed his mouth with an -angry order to hold his tongue. Then, when the wretched man's lips -seemed shut for ever, the manager commanded him to open them once more. - -"Who is this 'Opera ghost?'" he snarled. - -But the inspector was by this time incapable of speaking a word. He -managed to convey, by a despairing gesture, that he knew nothing about -it, or rather that he did not wish to know. - -"Have you ever seen him, have you seen the Opera ghost?" - -The inspector, by means of a vigorous shake of the head, denied ever -having seen the ghost in question. - -"Very well!" said M. Richard coldly. - -The inspector's eyes started out of his head, as though to ask why the -manager had uttered that ominous "Very well!" - -"Because I'm going to settle the account of any one who has not seen -him!" explained the manager. "As he seems to be everywhere, I can't -have people telling me that they see him nowhere. I like people to -work for me when I employ them!" - -Having said this, M. Richard paid no attention to the inspector and -discussed various matters of business with his acting-manager, who had -entered the room meanwhile. The inspector thought he could go and was -gently--oh, so gently!--sidling toward the door, when M. Richard nailed -the man to the floor with a thundering: - -"Stay where you are!" - -M. Remy had sent for the box-keeper to the Rue de Provence, close to -the Opera, where she was engaged as a porteress. She soon made her -appearance. - -"What's your name?" - -"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother of little -Giry, little Meg, what!" - -This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, M. -Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, her -worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite -evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know or -could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, nor even -"little Meg!" But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that the celebrated -box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her. - -"Never heard of her!" the manager declared. "But that's no reason, -Mme. Giry, why I shouldn't ask you what happened last night to make you -and the inspector call in a municipal guard." - -"I was just wanting to see you, sir, and talk to you about it, so that -you mightn't have the same unpleasantness as M. Debienne and M. -Poligny. They wouldn't listen to me either, at first." - -"I'm not asking you about all that. I'm asking what happened last -night." - -Mme. Giry turned purple with indignation. Never had she been spoken to -like that. She rose as though to go, gathering up the folds of her -skirt and waving the feathers of her dingy bonnet with dignity, but, -changing her mind, she sat down again and said, in a haughty voice: - -"I'll tell you what happened. The ghost was annoyed again!" - -Thereupon, as M. Richard was on the point of bursting out, M. -Moncharmin interfered and conducted the interrogatory, whence it -appeared that Mme. Giry thought it quite natural that a voice should be -heard to say that a box was taken, when there was nobody in the box. -She was unable to explain this phenomenon, which was not new to her, -except by the intervention of the ghost. Nobody could see the ghost in -his box, but everybody could hear him. She had often heard him; and -they could believe her, for she always spoke the truth. They could ask -M. Debienne and M. Poligny, and anybody who knew her; and also M. -Isidore Saack, who had had a leg broken by the ghost! - -"Indeed!" said Moncharmin, interrupting her. "Did the ghost break poor -Isidore Saack's leg?" - -Mme. Giry opened her eyes with astonishment at such ignorance. -However, she consented to enlighten those two poor innocents. The -thing had happened in M. Debienne and M. Poligny's time, also in Box -Five and also during a performance of FAUST. Mme. Giry coughed, -cleared her throat--it sounded as though she were preparing to sing the -whole of Gounod's score--and began: - -"It was like this, sir. That night, M. Maniera and his lady, the -jewelers in the Rue Mogador, were sitting in the front of the box, with -their great friend, M. Isidore Saack, sitting behind Mme. Maniera. -Mephistopheles was singing"--Mme. Giry here burst into song -herself--"'Catarina, while you play at sleeping,' and then M. Maniera -heard a voice in his right ear (his wife was on his left) saying, 'Ha, -ha! Julie's not playing at sleeping!' His wife happened to be called -Julie. So. M. Maniera turns to the right to see who was talking to -him like that. Nobody there! He rubs his ear and asks himself, if -he's dreaming. Then Mephistopheles went on with his serenade... But, -perhaps I'm boring you gentlemen?" - -"No, no, go on." - -"You are too good, gentlemen," with a smirk. "Well, then, -Mephistopheles went on with his serenade"--Mme. Giry, burst into song -again--"'Saint, unclose thy portals holy and accord the bliss, to a -mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss.' And then M. Maniera again -hears the voice in his right ear, saying, this time, 'Ha, ha! Julie -wouldn't mind according a kiss to Isidore!' Then he turns round again, -but, this time, to the left; and what do you think he sees? Isidore, -who had taken his lady's hand and was covering it with kisses through -the little round place in the glove--like this, gentlemen"--rapturously -kissing the bit of palm left bare in the middle of her thread gloves. -"Then they had a lively time between them! Bang! Bang! M. Maniera, -who was big and strong, like you, M. Richard, gave two blows to M. -Isidore Saack, who was small and weak like M. Moncharmin, saving his -presence. There was a great uproar. People in the house shouted, -'That will do! Stop them! He'll kill him!' Then, at last, M. Isidore -Saack managed to run away." - -"Then the ghost had not broken his leg?" asked M. Moncharmin, a little -vexed that his figure had made so little impression on Mme. Giry. - -"He did break it for him, sir," replied Mme. Giry haughtily. "He broke -it for him on the grand staircase, which he ran down too fast, sir, and -it will be long before the poor gentleman will be able to go up it -again!" - -"Did the ghost tell you what he said in M. Maniera's right ear?" asked -M. Moncharmin, with a gravity which he thought exceedingly humorous. - -"No, sir, it was M. Maniera himself. So----" - -"But you have spoken to the ghost, my good lady?" - -"As I'm speaking to you now, my good sir!" Mme. Giry replied. - -"And, when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?" - -"Well, he tells me to bring him a footstool!" - -This time, Richard burst out laughing, as did Moncharmin and Remy, the -secretary. Only the inspector, warned by experience, was careful not -to laugh, while Mme. Giry ventured to adopt an attitude that was -positively threatening. - -"Instead of laughing," she cried indignantly, "you'd do better to do as -M. Poligny did, who found out for himself." - -"Found out about what?" asked Moncharmin, who had never been so much -amused in his life. - -"About the ghost, of course! ... Look here ..." - -She suddenly calmed herself, feeling that this was a solemn moment in -her life: - -"LOOK HERE," she repeated. "They were playing La Juive. M. Poligny -thought he would watch the performance from the ghost's box... Well, -when Leopold cries, 'Let us fly!'--you know--and Eleazer stops them and -says, 'Whither go ye?' ... well, M. Poligny--I was watching him from -the back of the next box, which was empty--M. Poligny got up and walked -out quite stiffly, like a statue, and before I had time to ask him, -'Whither go ye?' like Eleazer, he was down the staircase, but without -breaking his leg. - -"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask you -for a footstool," insisted M. Moncharmin. - -"Well, from that evening, no one tried to take the ghost's private box -from him. The manager gave orders that he was to have it at each -performance. And, whenever he came, he asked me for a footstool." - -"Tut, tut! A ghost asking for a footstool! Then this ghost of yours -is a woman?" - -"No, the ghost is a man." - -"How do you know?" - -"He has a man's voice, oh, such a lovely man's voice! This is what -happens: When he comes to the opera, it's usually in the middle of the -first act. He gives three little taps on the door of Box Five. The -first time I heard those three taps, when I knew there was no one in -the box, you can think how puzzled I was! I opened the door, listened, -looked; nobody! And then I heard a voice say, 'Mme. Jules' my poor -husband's name was Jules--'a footstool, please.' Saving your presence, -gentlemen, it made me feel all-overish like. But the voice went on, -'Don't be frightened, Mme. Jules, I'm the Opera ghost!' And the voice -was so soft and kind that I hardly felt frightened. THE VOICE WAS -SITTING IN THE CORNER CHAIR, ON THE RIGHT, IN THE FRONT ROW." - -"Was there any one in the box on the right of Box Five?" asked -Moncharmin. - -"No; Box Seven, and Box Three, the one on the left, were both empty. -The curtain had only just gone up." - -"And what did you do?" - -"Well, I brought the footstool. Of course, it wasn't for himself he -wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her." - -"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!" The eyes of the two -managers traveled from Mme. Giry to the inspector, who, standing behind -the box-keeper, was waving his arms to attract their attention. He -tapped his forehead with a distressful forefinger, to convey his -opinion that the widow Jules Giry was most certainly mad, a piece of -pantomime which confirmed M. Richard in his determination to get rid of -an inspector who kept a lunatic in his service. Meanwhile, the worthy -lady went on about her ghost, now painting his generosity: - -"At the end of the performance, he always gives me two francs, -sometimes five, sometimes even ten, when he has been many days without -coming. Only, since people have begun to annoy him again, he gives me -nothing at all. - -"Excuse me, my good woman," said Moncharmin, while Mme. Giry tossed the -feathers in her dingy hat at this persistent familiarity, "excuse me, -how does the ghost manage to give you your two francs?" - -"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course. I find -them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, I find -flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his lady's -bodice ... for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, they left -a fan behind them." - -"Oh, the ghost left a fan, did he? And what did you do with it?" - -"Well, I brought it back to the box next night." - -Here the inspector's voice was raised. - -"You've broken the rules; I shall have to fine you, Mme. Giry." - -"Hold your tongue, you fool!" muttered M. Firmin Richard. - -"You brought back the fan. And then?" - -"Well, then, they took it away with them, sir; it was not there at the -end of the performance; and in its place they left me a box of English -sweets, which I'm very fond of. That's one of the ghost's pretty -thoughts." - -"That will do, Mme. Giry. You can go." - -When Mme. Giry had bowed herself out, with the dignity that never -deserted her, the manager told the inspector that they had decided to -dispense with that old madwoman's services; and, when he had gone in -his turn, they instructed the acting-manager to make up the inspector's -accounts. Left alone, the managers told each other of the idea which -they both had in mind, which was that they should look into that little -matter of Box Five themselves. - - - -Chapter V The Enchanted Violin - - -Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, did -not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera. After the famous -gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; but this was the -last occasion on which she was heard in private. She refused, without -plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert to which she had -promised her assistance. She acted throughout as though she were no -longer the mistress of her own destiny and as though she feared a fresh -triumph. - -She knew that the Comte de Chagny, to please his brother, had done his -best on her behalf with M. Richard; and she wrote to thank him and also -to ask him to cease speaking in her favor. Her reason for this curious -attitude was never known. Some pretended that it was due to -overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty. But people on -the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think that I shall not -be far from the truth if I ascribe her action simply to fear. Yes, I -believe that Christine Daae was frightened by what had happened to her. -I have a letter of Christine's (it forms part of the Persian's -collection), relating to this period, which suggests a feeling of -absolute dismay: - -"I don't know myself when I sing," writes the poor child. - -She showed herself nowhere; and the Vicomte de Chagny tried in vain to -meet her. He wrote to her, asking to call upon her, but despaired of -receiving a reply when, one morning, she sent him the following note: - -MONSIEUR: - -I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea to rescue my -scarf. I feel that I must write to you to-day, when I am going to -Perros, in fulfilment of a sacred duty. To-morrow is the anniversary -of the death of my poor father, whom you knew and who was very fond of -you. He is buried there, with his violin, in the graveyard of the -little church, at the bottom of the slope where we used to play as -children, beside the road where, when we were a little bigger, we said -good-by for the last time. - -The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, dressed as -quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet to take to his -brother and jumped into a cab which brought him to the Gare -Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train. He spent a dismal -day in town and did not recover his spirits until the evening, when he -was seated in his compartment in the Brittany express. He read -Christine's note over and over again, smelling its perfume, recalling -the sweet pictures of his childhood, and spent the rest of that tedious -night journey in feverish dreams that began and ended with Christine -Daae. Day was breaking when he alighted at Lannion. He hurried to the -diligence for Perros-Guirec. He was the only passenger. He questioned -the driver and learned that, on the evening of the previous day, a -young lady who looked like a Parisian had gone to Perros and put up at -the inn known as the Setting Sun. - -The nearer he drew to her, the more fondly he remembered the story of -the little Swedish singer. Most of the details are still unknown to -the public. - -There was once, in a little market-town not far from Upsala, a peasant -who lived there with his family, digging the earth during the week and -singing in the choir on Sundays. This peasant had a little daughter to -whom he taught the musical alphabet before she knew how to read. -Daae's father was a great musician, perhaps without knowing it. Not a -fiddler throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia played as he -did. His reputation was widespread and he was always invited to set -the couples dancing at weddings and other festivals. His wife died -when Christine was entering upon her sixth year. Then the father, who -cared only for his daughter and his music, sold his patch of ground and -went to Upsala in search of fame and fortune. He found nothing but -poverty. - -He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, strumming his -Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never left his side, -listened to him in ecstasy or sang to his playing. One day, at Ljimby -Fair, Professor Valerius heard them and took them to Gothenburg. He -maintained that the father was the first violinist in the world and -that the daughter had the making of a great artist. Her education and -instruction were provided for. She made rapid progress and charmed -everybody with her prettiness, her grace of manner and her genuine -eagerness to please. - -When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae and -Christine with them. "Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as her -daughter. As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness. He -never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream which he -kept up with his violin. For hours at a time, he remained locked up in -his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, very, very softly. -Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen behind the door, wipe -away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, sighing for her -Scandinavian skies. - -Daae seemed not to recover his strength until the summer, when the -whole family went to stay at Perros-Guirec, in a far-away corner of -Brittany, where the sea was of the same color as in his own country. -Often he would play his saddest tunes on the beach and pretend that the -sea stopped its roaring to listen to them. And then he induced Mamma -Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his. At the time of the "pardons," -or Breton pilgrimages, the village festival and dances, he went off -with his fiddle, as in the old days, and was allowed to take his -daughter with him for a week. They gave the smallest hamlets music to -last them for a year and slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at -the inn, lying close together on the straw, as when they were so poor -in Sweden. At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no -collection, refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around -could not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped -the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven. -They followed them from village to village. - -One day, a little boy, who was out with his governess, made her take a -longer walk than he intended, for he could not tear himself from the -little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed to bind him to her. They -came to the shore of an inlet which is still called Trestraou, but -which now, I believe, harbors a casino or something of the sort. At -that time, there was nothing but sky and sea and a stretch of golden -beach. Only, there was also a high wind, which blew Christine's scarf -out to sea. Christine gave a cry and put out her arms, but the scarf -was already far on the waves. Then she heard a voice say: - -"It's all right, I'll go and fetch your scarf out of the sea." - -And she saw a little boy running fast, in spite of the outcries and the -indignant protests of a worthy lady in black. The little boy ran into -the sea, dressed as he was, and brought her back her scarf. Boy and -scarf were both soaked through. The lady in black made a great fuss, -but Christine laughed merrily and kissed the little boy, who was none -other than the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, staying at Lannion with his -aunt. - -During the season, they saw each other and played together almost every -day. At the aunt's request, seconded by Professor Valerius, Daae -consented to give the young viscount some violin lessons. In this way, -Raoul learned to love the same airs that had charmed Christine's -childhood. They also both had the same calm and dreamy little cast of -mind. They delighted in stories, in old Breton legends; and their -favorite sport was to go and ask for them at the cottage-doors, like -beggars: - -"Ma'am ..." or, "Kind gentleman ... have you a little story to tell us, -please?" - -And it seldom happened that they did not have one "given" them; for -nearly every old Breton grandame has, at least once in her life, seen -the "korrigans" dance by moonlight on the heather. - -But their great treat was, in the twilight, in the great silence of the -evening, after the sun had set in the sea, when Daae came and sat down -by them on the roadside and, in a low voice, as though fearing lest he -should frighten the ghosts whom he evoked, told them the legends of the -land of the North. And, the moment he stopped, the children would ask -for more. - -There was one story that began: - -"A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep, still lakes that -open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian mountains ..." - -And another: - -"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden -as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes. She -wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her frock -and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, when -she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music." - -While the old man told this story, Raoul looked at Christine's blue -eyes and golden hair; and Christine thought that Lotte was very lucky -to hear the Angel of Music when she went to sleep. The Angel of Music -played a part in all Daddy Daae's tales; and he maintained that every -great musician, every great artist received a visit from the Angel at -least once in his life. Sometimes the Angel leans over their cradle, -as happened to Lotte, and that is how there are little prodigies who -play the fiddle at six better than men at fifty, which, you must admit, -is very wonderful. Sometimes, the Angel comes much later, because the -children are naughty and won't learn their lessons or practise their -scales. And, sometimes, he does not come at all, because the children -have a bad heart or a bad conscience. - -No one ever sees the Angel; but he is heard by those who are meant to -hear him. He often comes when they least expect him, when they are sad -and disheartened. Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial -harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives. -Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown to -the rest of mankind. And they can not touch an instrument, or open -their mouths to sing, without producing sounds that put all other human -sounds to shame. Then people who do not know that the Angel has -visited those persons say that they have genius. - -Little Christine asked her father if he had heard the Angel of Music. -But Daddy Daae shook his head sadly; and then his eyes lit up, as he -said: - -"You will hear him one day, my child! When I am in Heaven, I will send -him to you!" - -Daddy was beginning to cough at that time. - -Three years later, Raoul and Christine met again at Perros. Professor -Valerius was dead, but his widow remained in France with Daddy Daae and -his daughter, who continued to play the violin and sing, wrapping in -their dream of harmony their kind patroness, who seemed henceforth to -live on music alone. The young man, as he now was, had come to Perros -on the chance of finding them and went straight to the house in which -they used to stay. He first saw the old man; and then Christine -entered, carrying the tea-tray. She flushed at the sight of Raoul, who -went up to her and kissed her. She asked him a few questions, -performed her duties as hostess prettily, took up the tray again and -left the room. Then she ran into the garden and took refuge on a -bench, a prey to feelings that stirred her young heart for the first -time. Raoul followed her and they talked till the evening, very shyly. -They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each -other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments. -When they took leave of each other by the roadside, Raoul, pressing a -kiss on Christine's trembling hand, said: - -"Mademoiselle, I shall never forget you!" - -And he went away regretting his words, for he knew that Christine could -not be the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny. - -As for Christine, she tried not to think of him and devoted herself -wholly to her art. She made wonderful progress and those who heard her -prophesied that she would be the greatest singer in the world. -Meanwhile, the father died; and, suddenly, she seemed to have lost, -with him, her voice, her soul and her genius. She retained just, but -only just, enough of this to enter the CONSERVATOIRE, where she did not -distinguish herself at all, attending the classes without enthusiasm -and taking a prize only to please old Mamma Valerius, with whom she -continued to live. - -The first time that Raoul saw Christine at the Opera, he was charmed by -the girl's beauty and by the sweet images of the past which it evoked, -but was rather surprised at the negative side of her art. He returned -to listen to her. He followed her in the wings. He waited for her -behind a Jacob's ladder. He tried to attract her attention. More than -once, he walked after her to the door of her box, but she did not see -him. She seemed, for that matter, to see nobody. She was all -indifference. Raoul suffered, for she was very beautiful and he was -shy and dared not confess his love, even to himself. And then came the -lightning-flash of the gala performance: the heavens torn asunder and -an angel's voice heard upon earth for the delight of mankind and the -utter capture of his heart. - -And then ... and then there was that man's voice behind the door--"You -must love me!"--and no one in the room... - -Why did she laugh when he reminded her of the incident of the scarf? -Why did she not recognize him? And why had she written to him? ... - -Perros was reached at last. Raoul walked into the smoky sitting-room -of the Setting Sun and at once saw Christine standing before him, -smiling and showing no astonishment. - -"So you have come," she said. "I felt that I should find you here, -when I came back from mass. Some one told me so, at the church." - -"Who?" asked Raoul, taking her little hand in his. - -"Why, my poor father, who is dead." - -There was a silence; and then Raoul asked: - -"Did your father tell you that I love you, Christine, and that I can -not live without you?" - -Christine blushed to the eyes and turned away her head. In a trembling -voice, she said: - -"Me? You are dreaming, my friend!" - -And she burst out laughing, to put herself in countenance. - -"Don't laugh, Christine; I am quite serious," Raoul answered. - -And she replied gravely: "I did not make you come to tell me such -things as that." - -"You 'made me come,' Christine; you knew that your letter would not -leave me indignant and that I should hasten to Perros. How can you -have thought that, if you did not think I loved you?" - -"I thought you would remember our games here, as children, in which my -father so often joined. I really don't know what I thought... Perhaps -I was wrong to write to you ... This anniversary and your sudden -appearance in my room at the Opera, the other evening, reminded me of -the time long past and made me write to you as the little girl that I -then was..." - -There was something in Christine's attitude that seemed to Raoul not -natural. He did not feel any hostility in her; far from it: the -distressed affection shining in her eyes told him that. But why was -this affection distressed? That was what he wished to know and what -was irritating him. - -"When you saw me in your dressing-room, was that the first time you -noticed me, Christine?" - -She was incapable of lying. - -"No," she said, "I had seen you several times in your brother's box. -And also on the stage." - -"I thought so!" said Raoul, compressing his lips. "But then why, when -you saw me in your room, at your feet, reminding you that I had rescued -your scarf from the sea, why did you answer as though you did not know -me and also why did you laugh?" - -The tone of these questions was so rough that Christine stared at Raoul -without replying. The young man himself was aghast at the sudden -quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment when he had -resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and submission to -Christine. A husband, a lover with all rights, would talk no -differently to a wife, a mistress who had offended him. But he had -gone too far and saw no other way out of the ridiculous position than -to behave odiously. - -"You don't answer!" he said angrily and unhappily. "Well, I will -answer for you. It was because there was some one in the room who was -in your way, Christine, some one that you did not wish to know that you -could be interested in any one else!" - -"If any one was in my way, my friend," Christine broke in coldly, "if -any one was in my way, that evening, it was yourself, since I told you -to leave the room!" - -"Yes, so that you might remain with the other!" - -"What are you saying, monsieur?" asked the girl excitedly. "And to -what other do you refer?" - -"To the man to whom you said, 'I sing only for you! ... to-night I gave -you my soul and I am dead!'" - -Christine seized Raoul's arm and clutched it with a strength which no -one would have suspected in so frail a creature. - -"Then you were listening behind the door?" - -"Yes, because I love you everything ... And I heard everything ..." - -"You heard what?" - -And the young girl, becoming strangely calm, released Raoul's arm. - -"He said to you, 'Christine, you must love me!'" - -At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, dark -rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the point of -swooning. Raoul darted forward, with arms outstretched, but Christine -had overcome her passing faintness and said, in a low voice: - -"Go on! Go on! Tell me all you heard!" - -At an utter loss to understand, Raoul answered: "I heard him reply, -when you said you had given him your soul, 'Your soul is a beautiful -thing, child, and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a -gift. The angels wept tonight.'" - -Christine carried her hand to her heart, a prey to indescribable -emotion. Her eyes stared before her like a madwoman's. Raoul was -terror-stricken. But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened and two great -tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks. - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul!" - -The young man tried to take her in his arms, but she escaped and fled -in great disorder. - -While Christine remained locked in her room, Raoul was at his wit's end -what to do. He refused to breakfast. He was terribly concerned and -bitterly grieved to see the hours, which he had hoped to find so sweet, -slip past without the presence of the young Swedish girl. Why did she -not come to roam with him through the country where they had so many -memories in common? He heard that she had had a mass said, that -morning, for the repose of her father's soul and spent a long time -praying in the little church and on the fiddler's tomb. Then, as she -seemed to have nothing more to do at Perros and, in fact, was doing -nothing there, why did she not go back to Paris at once? - -Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church -stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; -but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the -dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground. -They were marvelous red roses that had blossomed in the morning, in the -snow, giving a glimpse of life among the dead, for death was all around -him. It also, like the flowers, issued from the ground, which had -flung back a number of its corpses. Skeletons and skulls by the -hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in position by -a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible. Dead men's bones, -arranged in rows, like bricks, to form the first course upon which the -walls of the sacristy had been built. The door of the sacristy opened -in the middle of that bony structure, as is often seen in old Breton -churches. - -Raoul said a prayer for Daae and then, painfully impressed by all those -eternal smiles on the mouths of skulls, he climbed the slope and sat -down on the edge of the heath overlooking the sea. The wind fell with -the evening. Raoul was surrounded by icy darkness, but he did not feel -the cold. It was here, he remembered, that he used to come with little -Christine to see the Korrigans dance at the rising of the moon. He had -never seen any, though his eyes were good, whereas Christine, who was a -little shortsighted, pretended that she had seen many. He smiled at -the thought and then suddenly gave a start. A voice behind him said: - -"Do you think the Korrigans will come this evening?" - -It was Christine. He tried to speak. She put her gloved hand on his -mouth. - -"Listen, Raoul. I have decided to tell you something serious, very -serious ... Do you remember the legend of the Angel of Music?" - -"I do indeed," he said. "I believe it was here that your father first -told it to us." - -"And it was here that he said, 'When I am in Heaven, my child, I will -send him to you.' Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, and I have been -visited by the Angel of Music." - -"I have no doubt of it," replied the young man gravely, for it seemed -to him that his friend, in obedience to a pious thought, was connecting -the memory of her father with the brilliancy of her last triumph. - -Christine appeared astonished at the Vicomte de Chagny's coolness: - -"How do you understand it?" she asked, bringing her pale face so close -to his that he might have thought that Christine was going to give him -a kiss; but she only wanted to read his eyes in spite of the dark. - -"I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you sang the -other evening without the intervention of some miracle. No professor -on earth can teach you such accents as those. You have heard the Angel -of Music, Christine." - -"Yes," she said solemnly, "IN MY DRESSING-ROOM. That is where he comes -to give me my lessons daily." - -"In your dressing-room?" he echoed stupidly. - -"Yes, that is where I have heard him; and I have not been the only one -to hear him." - -"Who else heard him, Christine?" - -"You, my friend." - -"I? I heard the Angel of Music?" - -"Yes, the other evening, it was he who was talking when you were -listening behind the door. It was he who said, 'You must love me.' But -I then thought that I was the only one to hear his voice. Imagine my -astonishment when you told me, this morning, that you could hear him -too." - -Raoul burst out laughing. The first rays of the moon came and shrouded -the two young people in their light. Christine turned on Raoul with a -hostile air. Her eyes, usually so gentle, flashed fire. - -"What are you laughing at? YOU think you heard a man's voice, I -suppose?" - -"Well! ..." replied the young man, whose ideas began to grow confused -in the face of Christine's determined attitude. - -"It's you, Raoul, who say that? You, an old playfellow of my own! A -friend of my father's! But you have changed since those days. What are -you thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, and I -don't lock myself up in my dressing-room with men's voices. If you had -opened the door, you would have seen that there was nobody in the room!" - -"That's true! I did open the door, when you were gone, and I found no -one in the room." - -"So you see! ... Well?" - -The viscount summoned up all his courage. - -"Well, Christine, I think that somebody is making game of you." - -She gave a cry and ran away. He ran after her, but, in a tone of -fierce anger, she called out: "Leave me! Leave me!" And she -disappeared. - -Raoul returned to the inn feeling very weary, very low-spirited and -very sad. He was told that Christine had gone to her bedroom saying -that she would not be down to dinner. Raoul dined alone, in a very -gloomy mood. Then he went to his room and tried to read, went to bed -and tried to sleep. There was no sound in the next room. - -The hours passed slowly. It was about half-past eleven when he -distinctly heard some one moving, with a light, stealthy step, in the -room next to his. Then Christine had not gone to bed! Without -troubling for a reason, Raoul dressed, taking care not to make a sound, -and waited. Waited for what? How could he tell? But his heart -thumped in his chest when he heard Christine's door turn slowly on its -hinges. Where could she be going, at this hour, when every one was -fast asleep at Perros? Softly opening the door, he saw Christine's -white form, in the moonlight, slipping along the passage. She went -down the stairs and he leaned over the baluster above her. Suddenly he -heard two voices in rapid conversation. He caught one sentence: "Don't -lose the key." - -It was the landlady's voice. The door facing the sea was opened and -locked again. Then all was still. - -Raoul ran back to his room and threw back the window. Christine's -white form stood on the deserted quay. - -The first floor of the Setting Sun was at no great height and a tree -growing against the wall held out its branches to Raoul's impatient -arms and enabled him to climb down unknown to the landlady. Her -amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, the -young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead than alive, -and when she learned that he had been found stretched at full length on -the steps of the high altar of the little church. She ran at once to -tell Christine, who hurried down and, with the help of the landlady, -did her best to revive him. He soon opened his eyes and was not long -in recovering when he saw his friend's charming face leaning over him. - -A few weeks later, when the tragedy at the Opera compelled the -intervention of the public prosecutor, M. Mifroid, the commissary of -police, examined the Vicomte de Chagny touching the events of the night -at Perros. I quote the questions and answers as given in the official -report pp. 150 et seq.: - -Q. "Did Mlle. Daae not see you come down from your room by the curious -road which you selected?" - -R. "No, monsieur, no, although, when walking behind her, I took no -pains to deaden the sound of my footsteps. In fact, I was anxious that -she should turn round and see me. I realized that I had no excuse for -following her and that this way of spying on her was unworthy of me. -But she seemed not to hear me and acted exactly as though I were not -there. She quietly left the quay and then suddenly walked quickly up -the road. The church-clock had struck a quarter to twelve and I -thought that this must have made her hurry, for she began almost to run -and continued hastening until she came to the church." - -Q. "Was the gate open?" - -R. "Yes, monsieur, and this surprised me, but did not seem to surprise -Mlle. Daae." - -Q. "Was there no one in the churchyard?" - -R. "I did not see any one; and, if there had been, I must have seen -him. The moon was shining on the snow and made the night quite light." - -Q. "Was it possible for any one to hide behind the tombstones?" - -R. "No, monsieur. They were quite small, poor tombstones, partly -hidden under the snow, with their crosses just above the level of the -ground. The only shadows were those of the crosses and ourselves. The -church stood out quite brightly. I never saw so clear a night. It was -very fine and very cold and one could see everything." - -Q. "Are you at all superstitious?" - -R. "No, monsieur, I am a practising Catholic," - -Q. "In what condition of mind were you?" - -R. "Very healthy and peaceful, I assure you. Mlle. Daae's curious -action in going out at that hour had worried me at first; but, as soon -as I saw her go to the churchyard, I thought that she meant to fulfil -some pious duty on her father's grave and I considered this so natural -that I recovered all my calmness. I was only surprised that she had -not heard me walking behind her, for my footsteps were quite audible on -the hard snow. But she must have been taken up with her intentions and -I resolved not to disturb her. She knelt down by her father's grave, -made the sign of the cross and began to pray. At that moment, it -struck midnight. At the last stroke, I saw Mlle. Daae life{sic} her -eyes to the sky and stretch out her arms as though in ecstasy. I was -wondering what the reason could be, when I myself raised my head and -everything within me seemed drawn toward the invisible, WHICH WAS -PLAYING THE MOST PERFECT MUSIC! Christine and I knew that music; we -had heard it as children. But it had never been executed with such -divine art, even by M. Daae. I remembered all that Christine had told -me of the Angel of Music. The air was The Resurrection of Lazarus, -which old M. Daae used to play to us in his hours of melancholy and of -faith. If Christine's Angel had existed, he could not have played -better, that night, on the late musician's violin. When the music -stopped, I seemed to hear a noise from the skulls in the heap of bones; -it was as though they were chuckling and I could not help shuddering." - -Q. "Did it not occur to you that the musician might be hiding behind -that very heap of bones?" - -R. "It was the one thought that did occur to me, monsieur, so much so -that I omitted to follow Mlle. Daae, when she stood up and walked -slowly to the gate. She was so much absorbed just then that I am not -surprised that she did not see me." - -Q. "Then what happened that you were found in the morning lying -half-dead on the steps of the high altar?" - -R. "First a skull rolled to my feet ... then another ... then another -... It was as if I were the mark of that ghastly game of bowls. And I -had an idea that false step must have destroyed the balance of the -structure behind which our musician was concealed. This surmise seemed -to be confirmed when I saw a shadow suddenly glide along the sacristy -wall. I ran up. The shadow had already pushed open the door and -entered the church. But I was quicker than the shadow and caught hold -of a corner of its cloak. At that moment, we were just in front of the -high altar; and the moonbeams fell straight upon us through the -stained-glass windows of the apse. As I did not let go of the cloak, -the shadow turned round; and I saw a terrible death's head, which -darted a look at me from a pair of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were -face to face with Satan; and, in the presence of this unearthly -apparition, my heart gave way, my courage failed me ... and I remember -nothing more until I recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun." - - - -Chapter VI A Visit to Box Five - - -We left M. Firmin Richard and M. Armand Moncharmin at the moment when -they were deciding "to look into that little matter of Box Five." - -Leaving behind them the broad staircase which leads from the lobby -outside the managers' offices to the stage and its dependencies, they -crossed the stage, went out by the subscribers' door and entered the -house through the first little passage on the left. Then they made -their way through the front rows of stalls and looked at Box Five on -the grand tier, They could not see it well, because it was half in -darkness and because great covers were flung over the red velvet of the -ledges of all the boxes. - -They were almost alone in the huge, gloomy house; and a great silence -surrounded them. It was the time when most of the stage-hands go out -for a drink. The staff had left the boards for the moment, leaving a -scene half set. A few rays of light, a wan, sinister light, that -seemed to have been stolen from an expiring luminary, fell through some -opening or other upon an old tower that raised its pasteboard -battlements on the stage; everything, in this deceptive light, adopted -a fantastic shape. In the orchestra stalls, the drugget covering them -looked like an angry sea, whose glaucous waves had been suddenly -rendered stationary by a secret order from the storm phantom, who, as -everybody knows, is called Adamastor. MM. Moncharmin and Richard were -the shipwrecked mariners amid this motionless turmoil of a calico sea. -They made for the left boxes, plowing their way like sailors who leave -their ship and try to struggle to the shore. The eight great polished -columns stood up in the dusk like so many huge piles supporting the -threatening, crumbling, big-bellied cliffs whose layers were -represented by the circular, parallel, waving lines of the balconies of -the grand, first and second tiers of boxes. At the top, right on top -of the cliff, lost in M. Lenepveu's copper ceiling, figures grinned and -grimaced, laughed and jeered at MM. Richard and Moncharmin's distress. -And yet these figures were usually very serious. Their names were -Isis, Amphitrite, Hebe, Pandora, Psyche, Thetis, Pomona, Daphne, -Clytie, Galatea and Arethusa. Yes, Arethusa herself and Pandora, whom -we all know by her box, looked down upon the two new managers of the -Opera, who ended by clutching at some piece of wreckage and from there -stared silently at Box Five on the grand tier. - -I have said that they were distressed. At least, I presume so. M. -Moncharmin, in any case, admits that he was impressed. To quote his -own words, in his Memoirs: - -"This moonshine about the Opera ghost in which, since we first took -over the duties of MM. Poligny and Debienne, we had been so nicely -steeped"--Moncharmin's style is not always irreproachable--"had no -doubt ended by blinding my imaginative and also my visual faculties. -It may be that the exceptional surroundings in which we found -ourselves, in the midst of an incredible silence, impressed us to an -unusual extent. It may be that we were the sport of a kind of -hallucination brought about by the semi-darkness of the theater and the -partial gloom that filled Box Five. At any rate, I saw and Richard -also saw a shape in the box. Richard said nothing, nor I either. But -we spontaneously seized each other's hand. We stood like that for some -minutes, without moving, with our eyes fixed on the same point; but the -figure had disappeared. Then we went out and, in the lobby, -communicated our impressions to each other and talked about 'the -shape.' The misfortune was that my shape was not in the least like -Richard's. I had seen a thing like a death's head resting on the ledge -of the box, whereas Richard saw the shape of an old woman who looked -like Mme. Giry. We soon discovered that we had really been the victims -of an illusion, whereupon, without further delay and laughing like -madmen, we ran to Box Five on the grand tier, went inside and found no -shape of any kind." - -Box Five is just like all the other grand tier boxes. There is nothing -to distinguish it from any of the others. M. Moncharmin and M. -Richard, ostensibly highly amused and laughing at each other, moved the -furniture of the box, lifted the cloths and the chairs and particularly -examined the arm-chair in which "the man's voice" used to sit. But -they saw that it was a respectable arm-chair, with no magic about it. -Altogether, the box was the most ordinary box in the world, with its -red hangings, its chairs, its carpet and its ledge covered in red -velvet. After, feeling the carpet in the most serious manner possible, -and discovering nothing more here or anywhere else, they went down to -the corresponding box on the pit tier below. In Box Five on the pit -tier, which is just inside the first exit from the stalls on the left, -they found nothing worth mentioning either. - -"Those people are all making fools of us!" Firmin Richard ended by -exclaiming. "It will be FAUST on Saturday: let us both see the -performance from Box Five on the grand tier!" - - - -Chapter VII Faust and What Followed - - -On the Saturday morning, on reaching their office, the joint managers -found a letter from O. G. worded in these terms: - -MY DEAR MANAGERS: - -So it is to be war between us? - -If you still care for peace, here is my ultimatum. It consists of the -four following conditions: - -1. You must give me back my private box; and I wish it to be at my -free disposal from henceforward. - -2. The part of Margarita shall be sung this evening by Christine Daae. -Never mind about Carlotta; she will be ill. - -3. I absolutely insist upon the good and loyal services of Mme. Giry, -my box-keeper, whom you will reinstate in her functions forthwith. - -4. Let me know by a letter handed to Mme. Giry, who will see that it -reaches me, that you accept, as your predecessors did, the conditions -in my memorandum-book relating to my monthly allowance. I will inform -you later how you are to pay it to me. - -If you refuse, you will give FAUST to-night in a house with a curse -upon it. - -Take my advice and be warned in time. O. G. - -"Look here, I'm getting sick of him, sick of him!" shouted Richard, -bringing his fists down on his office-table. - -Just then, Mercier, the acting-manager, entered. - -"Lachenel would like to see one of you gentlemen," he said. "He says -that his business is urgent and he seems quite upset." - -"Who's Lachenel?" asked Richard. - -"He's your stud-groom." - -"What do you mean? My stud-groom?" - -"Yes, sir," explained Mercier, "there are several grooms at the Opera -and M. Lachenel is at the head of them." - -"And what does this groom do?" - -"He has the chief management of the stable." - -"What stable?" - -"Why, yours, sir, the stable of the Opera." - -"Is there a stable at the Opera? Upon my word, I didn't know. Where -is it?" - -"In the cellars, on the Rotunda side. It's a very important -department; we have twelve horses." - -"Twelve horses! And what for, in Heaven's name?" - -"Why, we want trained horses for the processions in the Juive, The -Profeta and so on; horses 'used to the boards.' It is the grooms' -business to teach them. M. Lachenel is very clever at it. He used to -manage Franconi's stables." - -"Very well ... but what does he want?" - -"I don't know; I never saw him in such a state." - -"He can come in." - -M. Lachenel came in, carrying a riding-whip, with which he struck his -right boot in an irritable manner. - -"Good morning, M. Lachenel," said Richard, somewhat impressed. "To -what do we owe the honor of your visit?" - -"Mr. Manager, I have come to ask you to get rid of the whole stable." - -"What, you want to get rid of our horses?" - -"I'm not talking of the horses, but of the stablemen." - -"How many stablemen have you, M. Lachenel?" - -"Six stablemen! That's at least two too many." - -"These are 'places,'" Mercier interposed, "created and forced upon us -by the under-secretary for fine arts. They are filled by protegees of -the government and, if I may venture to ..." - -"I don't care a hang for the government!" roared Richard. "We don't -need more than four stablemen for twelve horses." - -"Eleven," said the head riding-master, correcting him. - -"Twelve," repeated Richard. - -"Eleven," repeated Lachenel. - -"Oh, the acting-manager told me that you had twelve horses!" - -"I did have twelve, but I have only eleven since Cesar was stolen." - -And M. Lachenel gave himself a great smack on the boot with his whip. - -"Has Cesar been stolen?" cried the acting-manager. "Cesar, the white -horse in the Profeta?" - -"There are not two Cesars," said the stud-groom dryly. "I was ten -years at Franconi's and I have seen plenty of horses in my time. Well, -there are not two Cesars. And he's been stolen." - -"How?" - -"I don't know. Nobody knows. That's why I have come to ask you to -sack the whole stable." - -"What do your stablemen say?" - -"All sorts of nonsense. Some of them accuse the supers. Others -pretend that it's the acting-manager's doorkeeper ..." - -"My doorkeeper? I'll answer for him as I would for myself!" protested -Mercier. - -"But, after all, M. Lachenel," cried Richard, "you must have some idea." - -"Yes, I have," M. Lachenel declared. "I have an idea and I'll tell you -what it is. There's no doubt about it in my mind." He walked up to the -two managers and whispered. "It's the ghost who did the trick!" - -Richard gave a jump. - -"What, you too! You too!" - -"How do you mean, I too? Isn't it natural, after what I saw?" - -"What did you see?" - -"I saw, as clearly as I now see you, a black shadow riding a white -horse that was as like Cesar as two peas!" - -"And did you run after them?" - -"I did and I shouted, but they were too fast for me and disappeared in -the darkness of the underground gallery." - -M. Richard rose. "That will do, M. Lachenel. You can go ... We will -lodge a complaint against THE GHOST." - -"And sack my stable?" - -"Oh, of course! Good morning." - -M. Lachenel bowed and withdrew. Richard foamed at the mouth. - -"Settle that idiot's account at once, please." - -"He is a friend of the government representative's!" Mercier ventured -to say. - -"And he takes his vermouth at Tortoni's with Lagrene, Scholl and -Pertuiset, the lion-hunter," added Moncharmin. "We shall have the -whole press against us! He'll tell the story of the ghost; and -everybody will be laughing at our expense! We may as well be dead as -ridiculous!" - -"All right, say no more about it." - -At that moment the door opened. It must have been deserted by its -usual Cerberus, for Mme. Giry entered without ceremony, holding a -letter in her hand, and said hurriedly: - -"I beg your pardon, excuse me, gentlemen, but I had a letter this -morning from the Opera ghost. He told me to come to you, that you had -something to ..." - -She did not complete the sentence. She saw Firmin Richard's face; and -it was a terrible sight. He seemed ready to burst. He said nothing, -he could not speak. But suddenly he acted. First, his left arm seized -upon the quaint person of Mme. Giry and made her describe so unexpected -a semicircle that she uttered a despairing cry. Next, his right foot -imprinted its sole on the black taffeta of a skirt which certainly had -never before undergone a similar outrage in a similar place. The thing -happened so quickly that Mme. Giry, when in the passage, was still -quite bewildered and seemed not to understand. But, suddenly, she -understood; and the Opera rang with her indignant yells, her violent -protests and threats. - -About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own in the -Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, rang for her maid, who brought her letters -to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, written in red ink, -in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran: - -If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune at -the moment when you open your mouth to sing ... a misfortune worse than -death. - -The letter took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. She pushed -back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. It was not the -first letter of the kind which she had received, but she never had one -couched in such threatening terms. - -She thought herself, at that time, the victim of a thousand jealous -attempts and went about saying that she had a secret enemy who had -sworn to ruin her. She pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched -against her, a cabal which would come to a head one of those days; but -she added that she was not the woman to be intimidated. - -The truth is that, if there was a cabal, it was led by Carlotta herself -against poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. Carlotta had never -forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had achieved when taking -her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta heard of the astounding -reception bestowed upon her understudy, she was at once cured of an -incipient attack of bronchitis and a bad fit of sulking against the -management and lost the slightest inclination to shirk her duties. -From that time, she worked with all her might to "smother" her rival, -enlisting the services of influential friends to persuade the managers -not to give Christine an opportunity for a fresh triumph. Certain -newspapers which had begun to extol the talent of Christine now -interested themselves only in the fame of Carlotta. Lastly, in the -theater itself, the celebrated, but heartless and soulless diva made -the most scandalous remarks about Christine and tried to cause her -endless minor unpleasantnesses. - -When Carlotta had finished thinking over the threat contained in the -strange letter, she got up. - -"We shall see," she said, adding a few oaths in her native Spanish with -a very determined air. - -The first thing she saw, when looking out of her window, was a hearse. -She was very superstitious; and the hearse and the letter convinced her -that she was running the most serious dangers that evening. She -collected all her supporters, told them that she was threatened at that -evening's performance with a plot organized by Christine Daae and -declared that they must play a trick upon that chit by filling the -house with her, Carlotta's, admirers. She had no lack of them, had -she? She relied upon them to hold themselves prepared for any -eventuality and to silence the adversaries, if, as she feared, they -created a disturbance. - -M. Richard's private secretary called to ask after the diva's health -and returned with the assurance that she was perfectly well and that, -"were she dying," she would sing the part of Margarita that evening. -The secretary urged her, in his chief's name, to commit no imprudence, -to stay at home all day and to be careful of drafts; and Carlotta could -not help, after he had gone, comparing this unusual and unexpected -advice with the threats contained in the letter. - -It was five o'clock when the post brought a second anonymous letter in -the same hand as the first. It was short and said simply: - -You have a bad cold. If you are wise, you will see that it is madness -to try to sing to-night. - -Carlotta sneered, shrugged her handsome shoulders and sang two or three -notes to reassure herself. - -Her friends were faithful to their promise. They were all at the Opera -that night, but looked round in vain for the fierce conspirators whom -they were instructed to suppress. The only unusual thing was the -presence of M. Richard and M. Moncharmin in Box Five. Carlotta's -friends thought that, perhaps, the managers had wind, on their side, of -the proposed disturbance and that they had determined to be in the -house, so as to stop it then and there; but this was unjustifiable -supposition, as the reader knows. M. Richard and M. Moncharmin were -thinking of nothing but their ghost. - -"Vain! In vain do I call, through my vigil weary, On creation and its -Lord! Never reply will break the silence dreary! No sign! No single -word!" - -The famous baritone, Carolus Fonta, had hardly finished Doctor Faust's -first appeal to the powers of darkness, when M. Firmin Richard, who was -sitting in the ghost's own chair, the front chair on the right, leaned -over to his partner and asked him chaffingly: - -"Well, has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet?" - -"Wait, don't be in such a hurry," replied M. Armand Moncharmin, in the -same gay tone. "The performance has only begun and you know that the -ghost does not usually come until the middle of the first act." - -The first act passed without incident, which did not surprise -Carlotta's friends, because Margarita does not sing in this act. As -for the managers, they looked at each other, when the curtain fell. - -"That's one!" said Moncharmin. - -"Yes, the ghost is late," said Firmin Richard. - -"It's not a bad house," said Moncharmin, "for 'a house with a curse on -it.'" - -M. Richard smiled and pointed to a fat, rather vulgar woman, dressed in -black, sitting in a stall in the middle of the auditorium with a man in -a broadcloth frock-coat on either side of her. - -"Who on earth are 'those?'" asked Moncharmin. - -"'Those,' my dear fellow, are my concierge, her husband and her -brother." - -"Did you give them their tickets?" - -"I did ... My concierge had never been to the Opera--this is, the first -time--and, as she is now going to come every night, I wanted her to -have a good seat, before spending her time showing other people to -theirs." - -Moncharmin asked what he meant and Richard answered that he had -persuaded his concierge, in whom he had the greatest confidence, to -come and take Mme. Giry's place. Yes, he would like to see if, with -that woman instead of the old lunatic, Box Five would continue to -astonish the natives? - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "you know that Mother Giry is going to -lodge a complaint against you." - -"With whom? The ghost?" - -The ghost! Moncharmin had almost forgotten him. However, that -mysterious person did nothing to bring himself to the memory of the -managers; and they were just saying so to each other for the second -time, when the door of the box suddenly opened to admit the startled -stage-manager. - -"What's the matter?" they both asked, amazed at seeing him there at -such a time. - -"It seems there's a plot got up by Christine Daae's friends against -Carlotta. Carlotta's furious." - -"What on earth ... ?" said Richard, knitting his brows. - -But the curtain rose on the kermess scene and Richard made a sign to -the stage-manager to go away. When the two were alone again, -Moncharmin leaned over to Richard: - -"Then Daae has friends?" he asked. - -"Yes, she has." - -"Whom?" - -Richard glanced across at a box on the grand tier containing no one but -two men. - -"The Comte de Chagny?" - -"Yes, he spoke to me in her favor with such warmth that, if I had not -known him to be Sorelli's friend ..." - -"Really? Really?" said Moncharmin. "And who is that pale young man -beside him?" - -"That's his brother, the viscount." - -"He ought to be in his bed. He looks ill." - -The stage rang with gay song: - - "Red or white liquor, - Coarse or fine! - What can it matter, - So we have wine?" - -Students, citizens, soldiers, girls and matrons whirled light-heartedly -before the inn with the figure of Bacchus for a sign. Siebel made her -entrance. Christine Daae looked charming in her boy's clothes; and -Carlotta's partisans expected to hear her greeted with an ovation which -would have enlightened them as to the intentions of her friends. But -nothing happened. - -On the other hand, when Margarita crossed the stage and sang the only -two lines allotted her in this second act: - - "No, my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty, - And do not need an arm to help me on my way," - -Carlotta was received with enthusiastic applause. It was so unexpected -and so uncalled for that those who knew nothing about the rumors looked -at one another and asked what was happening. And this act also was -finished without incident. - -Then everybody said: "Of course, it will be during the next act." - -Some, who seemed to be better informed than the rest, declared that the -"row" would begin with the ballad of the KING OF THULE and rushed to -the subscribers' entrance to warn Carlotta. The managers left the box -during the entr'acte to find out more about the cabal of which the -stage-manager had spoken; but they soon returned to their seats, -shrugging their shoulders and treating the whole affair as silly. - -The first thing they saw, on entering the box, was a box of English -sweets on the little shelf of the ledge. Who had put it there? They -asked the box-keepers, but none of them knew. Then they went back to -the shelf and, next to the box of sweets, found an opera glass. They -looked at each other. They had no inclination to laugh. All that Mme. -Giry had told them returned to their memory ... and then ... and then -... they seemed to feel a curious sort of draft around them ... They -sat down in silence. - -The scene represented Margarita's garden: - - "Gentle flow'rs in the dew, - Be message from me ..." - -As she sang these first two lines, with her bunch of roses and lilacs -in her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de Chagny in -his box; and, from that moment, her voice seemed less sure, less -crystal-clear than usual. Something seemed to deaden and dull her -singing... - -"What a queer girl she is!" said one of Carlotta's friends in the -stalls, almost aloud. "The other day she was divine; and to-night -she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training." - - "Gentle flow'rs, lie ye there - And tell her from me ..." - -The viscount put his head under his hands and wept. The count, behind -him, viciously gnawed his mustache, shrugged his shoulders and frowned. -For him, usually so cold and correct, to betray his inner feelings like -that, by outward signs, the count must be very angry. He was. He had -seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey in an -alarming state of health. The explanation that followed was -unsatisfactory and the count asked Christine Daae for an appointment. -She had the audacity to reply that she could not see either him or his -brother... - - "Would she but deign to hear me - And with one smile to cheer me ..." - -"The little baggage!" growled the count. - -And he wondered what she wanted. What she was hoping for... She was a -virtuous girl, she was said to have no friend, no protector of any sort -... That angel from the North must be very artful! - -Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, -thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris, -where Christine, fleeing from Perros like a thief in the night, had -arrived before him: - -MY DEAR LITTLE PLAYFELLOW: - -You must have the courage not to see me again, not to speak of me -again. If you love me just a little, do this for me, for me who will -never forget you, my dear Raoul. My life depends upon it. Your life -depends upon it. YOUR LITTLE CHRISTINE. - -Thunders of applause. Carlotta made her entrance. - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is ..." - -When Margarita had finished singing the ballad of the KING OF THULE, -she was loudly cheered and again when she came to the end of the jewel -song: - - "Ah, the joy of past compare - These jewels bright to wear! ..." - -Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, -certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung -herself into her part without restraint of modesty ... She was no -longer Margarita, she was Carmen. She was applauded all the more; and -her debut with Faust seemed about to bring her a new success, when -suddenly ... a terrible thing happened. - -Faust had knelt on one knee: - - "Let me gaze on the form below me, - While from yonder ether blue - Look how the star of eve, bright and tender, - lingers o'er me, - To love thy beauty too!" - -And Margarita replied: - - "Oh, how strange! - Like a spell does the evening bind me! - And a deep languid charm - I feel without alarm - With its melody enwind me - And all my heart subdue." - -At that moment, at that identical moment, the terrible thing -happened... Carlotta croaked like a toad: - -"Co-ack!" - -There was consternation on Carlotta's face and consternation on the -faces of all the audience. The two managers in their box could not -suppress an exclamation of horror. Every one felt that the thing was -not natural, that there was witchcraft behind it. That toad smelt of -brimstone. Poor, wretched, despairing, crushed Carlotta! - -The uproar in the house was indescribable. If the thing had happened -to any one but Carlotta, she would have been hooted. But everybody -knew how perfect an instrument her voice was; and there was no display -of anger, but only of horror and dismay, the sort of dismay which men -would have felt if they had witnessed the catastrophe that broke the -arms of the Venus de Milo... And even then they would have seen ... -and understood ... - -But here that toad was incomprehensible! So much so that, after some -seconds spent in asking herself if she had really heard that note, that -sound, that infernal noise issue from her throat, she tried to persuade -herself that it was not so, that she was the victim of an illusion, an -illusion of the ear, and not of an act of treachery on the part of her -voice.... - -Meanwhile, in Box Five, Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. -This extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread -which was the more mysterious inasmuch as for some little while, they -had fallen within the direct influence of the ghost. They had felt his -breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end. Richard wiped the -perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost was there, around them, -behind them, beside them; they felt his presence without seeing him, -they heard his breath, close, close, close to them! ... They were sure -that there were three people in the box ... They trembled ... They -thought of running away ... They dared not ... They dared not make a -movement or exchange a word that would have told the ghost that they -knew that he was there! ... What was going to happen? - -This happened. - -"Co-ack!" Their joint exclamation of horror was heard all over the -house. THEY FELT THAT THEY WERE SMARTING UNDER THE GHOST'S ATTACKS. -Leaning over the ledge of their box, they stared at Carlotta as though -they did not recognize her. That infernal girl must have given the -signal for some catastrophe. Ah, they were waiting for the -catastrophe! The ghost had told them it would come! The house had a -curse upon it! The two managers gasped and panted under the weight of -the catastrophe. Richard's stifled voice was heard calling to Carlotta: - -"Well, go on!" - -No, Carlotta did not go on ... Bravely, heroically, she started afresh -on the fatal line at the end of which the toad had appeared. - -An awful silence succeeded the uproar. Carlotta's voice alone once -more filled the resounding house: - -"I feel without alarm ..." - -The audience also felt, but not without alarm. .. - - "I feel without alarm ... - I feel without alarm--co-ack! - With its melody enwind me--co-ack! - And all my heart sub--co-ack!" - -The toad also had started afresh! - -The house broke into a wild tumult. The two managers collapsed in -their chairs and dared not even turn round; they had not the strength; -the ghost was chuckling behind their backs! And, at last, they -distinctly heard his voice in their right ears, the impossible voice, -the mouthless voice, saying: - -"SHE IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!" - -With one accord, they raised their eyes to the ceiling and uttered a -terrible cry. The chandelier, the immense mass of the chandelier was -slipping down, coming toward them, at the call of that fiendish voice. -Released from its hook, it plunged from the ceiling and came smashing -into the middle of the stalls, amid a thousand shouts of terror. A -wild rush for the doors followed. - -The papers of the day state that there were numbers wounded and one -killed. The chandelier had crashed down upon the head of the wretched -woman who had come to the Opera for the first time in her life, the one -whom M. Richard had appointed to succeed Mme. Giry, the ghost's -box-keeper, in her functions! She died on the spot and, the next -morning, a newspaper appeared with this heading: - -TWO HUNDRED KILOS ON THE HEAD OF A CONCIERGE - -That was her sole epitaph! - - - -Chapter VIII The Mysterious Brougham - - -That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill. As for -Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. A fortnight -elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera nor outside. - -Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima donna's -absence. He wrote to her at Mme. Valerius' flat and received no reply. -His grief increased and he ended by being seriously alarmed at never -seeing her name on the program. FAUST was played without her. - -One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason of -Christine's disappearance. He found them both looking extremely -worried. Their own friends did not recognize them: they had lost all -their gaiety and spirits. They were seen crossing the stage with -hanging heads, care-worn brows, pale cheeks, as though pursued by some -abominable thought or a prey to some persistent sport of fate. - -The fall of the chandelier had involved them in no little -responsibility; but it was difficult to make them speak about it. The -inquest had ended in a verdict of accidental death, caused by the wear -and tear of the chains by which the chandelier was hung from the -ceiling; but it was the duty of both the old and the new managers to -have discovered this wear and tear and to have remedied it in time. -And I feel bound to say that MM. Richard and Moncharmin at this time -appeared so changed, so absent-minded, so mysterious, so -incomprehensible that many of the subscribers thought that some event -even more horrible than the fall of the chandelier must have affected -their state of mind. - -In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, -except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions. And -their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask about -Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him that she was -taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, and they -replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, as Mlle. Daae had -requested leave of absence for reasons of health. - -"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?" - -"We don't know." - -"Didn't you send the doctor of the Opera to see her?" - -"No, she did not ask for him; and, as we trust her, we took her word." - -Raoul left the building a prey to the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved, -come what might, to go and inquire of Mamma Valerius. He remembered -the strong phrases in Christine's letter, forbidding him to make any -attempt to see her. But what he had seen at Perros, what he had heard -behind the dressing-room door, his conversation with Christine at the -edge of the moor made him suspect some machination which, devilish -though it might be, was none the less human. The girl's highly strung -imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, the primitive -education which had surrounded her childhood with a circle of legends, -the constant brooding over her dead father and, above all, the state of -sublime ecstasy into which music threw her from the moment that this -art was made manifest to her in certain exceptional conditions, as in -the churchyard at Perros; all this seemed to him to constitute a moral -ground only too favorable for the malevolent designs of some mysterious -and unscrupulous person. Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? This -was the very reasonable question which Raoul put to himself as he -hurried off to Mamma Valerius. - -He trembled as he rang at a little flat in the Rue -Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. The door was opened by the maid whom he had -seen coming out of Christine's dressing-room one evening. He asked if -he could speak to Mme. Valerius. He was told that she was ill in bed -and was not receiving visitors. - -"Take in my card, please," he said. - -The maid soon returned and showed him into a small and scantily -furnished drawing-room, in which portraits of Professor Valerius and -old Daae hung on opposite walls. - -"Madame begs Monsieur le Vicomte to excuse her," said the servant. -"She can only see him in her bedroom, because she can no longer stand -on her poor legs." - -Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he at -once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress in the -semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now quite white, -but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, had their -expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like. - -"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her -visitor. "Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here! ... We can talk of HER." - -This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears. He -at once asked: - -"Madame ... where is Christine?" - -And the old lady replied calmly: - -"She is with her good genius!" - -"What good genius?" exclaimed poor Raoul. - -"Why, the Angel of Music!" - -The viscount dropped into a chair. Really? Christine was with the -Angel of Music? And there lay Mamma Valerius in bed, smiling to him -and putting her finger to her lips, to warn him to be silent! And she -added: - -"You must not tell anybody!" - -"You can rely on me," said Raoul. - -He hardly knew what he was saying, for his ideas about Christine, -already greatly confused, were becoming more and more entangled; and it -seemed as if everything was beginning to turn around him, around the -room, around that extraordinary good lady with the white hair and -forget-me-not eyes. - -"I know! I know I can!" she said, with a happy laugh. "But why don't -you come near me, as you used to do when you were a little boy? Give -me your hands, as when you brought me the story of little Lotte, which -Daddy Daae had told you. I am very fond of you, M. Raoul, you know. -And so is Christine too!" - -"She is fond of me!" sighed the young man. He found a difficulty in -collecting his thoughts and bringing them to bear on Mamma Valerius' -"good genius," on the Angel of Music of whom Christine had spoken to -him so strangely, on the death's head which he had seen in a sort of -nightmare on the high altar at Perros and also on the Opera ghost, -whose fame had come to his ears one evening when he was standing behind -the scenes, within hearing of a group of scene-shifters who were -repeating the ghastly description which the hanged man, Joseph Buquet, -had given of the ghost before his mysterious death. - -He asked in a low voice: "What makes you think that Christine is fond -of me, madame?" - -"She used to speak of you every day." - -"Really? ... And what did she tell you?" - -"She told me that you had made her a proposal!" - -And the good old lady began laughing wholeheartedly. Raoul sprang from -his chair, flushing to the temples, suffering agonies. - -"What's this? Where are you going? Sit down again at once, will you? -... Do you think I will let you go like that? ... If you're angry with -me for laughing, I beg your pardon... After all, what has happened -isn't your fault... Didn't you know? ... Did you think that Christine -was free? ..." - -"Is Christine engaged to be married?" the wretched Raoul asked, in a -choking voice. - -"Why no! Why no! ... You know as well as I do that Christine couldn't -marry, even if she wanted to!" - -"But I don't know anything about it! ... And why can't Christine marry?" - -"Because of the Angel of Music, of course! ..." - -"I don't follow ..." - -"Yes, he forbids her to! ..." - -"He forbids her! ... The Angel of Music forbids her to marry!" - -"Oh, he forbids her ... without forbidding her. It's like this: he -tells her that, if she got married, she would never hear him again. -That's all! ... And that he would go away for ever! ... So, you -understand, she can't let the Angel of Music go. It's quite natural." - -"Yes, yes," echoed Raoul submissively, "it's quite natural." - -"Besides, I thought Christine had told you all that, when she met you -at Perros, where she went with her good genius." - -"Oh, she went to Perros with her good genius, did she?" - -"That is to say, he arranged to meet her down there, in Perros -churchyard, at Daae's grave. He promised to play her The Resurrection -of Lazarus on her father's violin!" - -Raoul de Chagny rose and, with a very authoritative air, pronounced -these peremptory words: - -"Madame, you will have the goodness to tell me where that genius lives." - -The old lady did not seem surprised at this indiscreet command. She -raised her eyes and said: - -"In Heaven!" - -Such simplicity baffled him. He did not know what to say in the -presence of this candid and perfect faith in a genius who came down -nightly from Heaven to haunt the dressing-rooms at the Opera. - -He now realized the possible state of mind of a girl brought up between -a superstitious fiddler and a visionary old lady and he shuddered when -he thought of the consequences of it all. - -"Is Christine still a good girl?" he asked suddenly, in spite of -himself. - -"I swear it, as I hope to be saved!" exclaimed the old woman, who, this -time, seemed to be incensed. "And, if you doubt it, sir, I don't know -what you are here for!" - -Raoul tore at his gloves. - -"How long has she known this 'genius?'" - -"About three months ... Yes, it's quite three months since he began to -give her lessons." - -The viscount threw up his arms with a gesture of despair. - -"The genius gives her lessons! ... And where, pray?" - -"Now that she has gone away with him, I can't say; but, up to a -fortnight ago, it was in Christine's dressing-room. It would be -impossible in this little flat. The whole house would hear them. -Whereas, at the Opera, at eight o'clock in the morning, there is no one -about, do you see!" - -"Yes, I see! I see!" cried the viscount. - -And he hurriedly took leave of Mme. Valerius, who asked herself if the -young nobleman was not a little off his head. - -He walked home to his brother's house in a pitiful state. He could -have struck himself, banged his head against the walls! To think that -he had believed in her innocence, in her purity! The Angel of Music! -He knew him now! He saw him! It was beyond a doubt some unspeakable -tenor, a good-looking jackanapes, who mouthed and simpered as he sang! -He thought himself as absurd and as wretched as could be. Oh, what a -miserable, little, insignificant, silly young man was M. le Vicomte de -Chagny! thought Raoul, furiously. And she, what a bold and damnable -sly creature! - -His brother was waiting for him and Raoul fell into his arms, like a -child. The count consoled him, without asking for explanations; and -Raoul would certainly have long hesitated before telling him the story -of the Angel of Music. His brother suggested taking him out to dinner. -Overcome as he was with despair, Raoul would probably have refused any -invitation that evening, if the count had not, as an inducement, told -him that the lady of his thoughts had been seen, the night before, in -company of the other sex in the Bois. At first, the viscount refused -to believe; but he received such exact details that he ceased -protesting. She had been seen, it appeared, driving in a brougham, -with the window down. She seemed to be slowly taking in the icy night -air. There was a glorious moon shining. She was recognized beyond a -doubt. As for her companion, only his shadowy outline was -distinguished leaning back in the dark. The carriage was going at a -walking pace in a lonely drive behind the grand stand at Longchamp. - -Raoul dressed in frantic haste, prepared to forget his distress by -flinging himself, as people say, into "the vortex of pleasure." Alas, -he was a very sorry guest and, leaving his brother early, found -himself, by ten o'clock in the evening, in a cab, behind the Longchamp -race-course. - -It was bitterly cold. The road seemed deserted and very bright under -the moonlight. He told the driver to wait for him patiently at the -corner of a near turning and, hiding himself as well as he could, stood -stamping his feet to keep warm. He had been indulging in this healthy -exercise for half an hour or so, when a carriage turned the corner of -the road and came quietly in his direction, at a walking pace. - -As it approached, he saw that a woman was leaning her head from the -window. And, suddenly, the moon shed a pale gleam over her features. - -"Christine!" - -The sacred name of his love had sprung from his heart and his lips. He -could not keep it back... He would have given anything to withdraw it, -for that name, proclaimed in the stillness of the night, had acted as -though it were the preconcerted signal for a furious rush on the part -of the whole turn-out, which dashed past him before he could put into -execution his plan of leaping at the horses' heads. The carriage -window had been closed and the girl's face had disappeared. And the -brougham, behind which he was now running, was no more than a black -spot on the white road. - -He called out again: "Christine!" - -No reply. And he stopped in the midst of the silence. - -With a lack-luster eye, he stared down that cold, desolate road and -into the pale, dead night. Nothing was colder than his heart, nothing -half so dead: he had loved an angel and now he despised a woman! - -Raoul, how that little fairy of the North has trifled with you! Was it -really, was it really necessary to have so fresh and young a face, a -forehead so shy and always ready to cover itself with the pink blush of -modesty in order to pass in the lonely night, in a carriage and pair, -accompanied by a mysterious lover? Surely there should be some limit -to hypocrisy and lying! ... - -She had passed without answering his cry ... And he was thinking of -dying; and he was twenty years old! ... - -His valet found him in the morning sitting on his bed. He had not -undressed and the servant feared, at the sight of his face, that some -disaster had occurred. Raoul snatched his letters from the man's -hands. He had recognized Christine's paper and hand-writing. She said: - -DEAR: - -Go to the masked ball at the Opera on the night after to-morrow. At -twelve o'clock, be in the little room behind the chimney-place of the -big crush-room. Stand near the door that leads to the Rotunda. Don't -mention this appointment to any one on earth. Wear a white domino and -be carefully masked. As you love me, do not let yourself be -recognized. CHRISTINE. - - - -Chapter IX At the Masked Ball - - -The envelope was covered with mud and unstamped. It bore the words "To -be handed to M. le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny," with the address in -pencil. It must have been flung out in the hope that a passer-by would -pick up the note and deliver it, which was what happened. The note had -been picked up on the pavement of the Place de l'Opera. - -Raoul read it over again with fevered eyes. No more was needed to -revive his hope. The somber picture which he had for a moment imagined -of a Christine forgetting her duty to herself made way for his original -conception of an unfortunate, innocent child, the victim of imprudence -and exaggerated sensibility. To what extent, at this time, was she -really a victim? Whose prisoner was she? Into what whirlpool had she -been dragged? He asked himself these questions with a cruel anguish; -but even this pain seemed endurable beside the frenzy into which he was -thrown at the thought of a lying and deceitful Christine. What had -happened? What influence had she undergone? What monster had carried -her off and by what means? ... - -By what means indeed but that of music? He knew Christine's story. -After her father's death, she acquired a distaste of everything in -life, including her art. She went through the CONSERVATOIRE like a -poor soulless singing-machine. And, suddenly, she awoke as though -through the intervention of a god. The Angel of Music appeared upon -the scene! She sang Margarita in FAUST and triumphed! ... - -The Angel of Music! ... For three months the Angel of Music had been -giving Christine lessons ... Ah, he was a punctual singing-master! ... -And now he was taking her for drives in the Bois! ... - -Raoul's fingers clutched at his flesh, above his jealous heart. In his -inexperience, he now asked himself with terror what game the girl was -playing? Up to what point could an opera-singer make a fool of a -good-natured young man, quite new to love? O misery! ... - -Thus did Raoul's thoughts fly from one extreme to the other. He no -longer knew whether to pity Christine or to curse her; and he pitied -and cursed her turn and turn about. At all events, he bought a white -domino. - -The hour of the appointment came at last. With his face in a mask -trimmed with long, thick lace, looking like a pierrot in his white -wrap, the viscount thought himself very ridiculous. Men of the world -do not go to the Opera ball in fancy-dress! It was absurd. One -thought, however, consoled the viscount: he would certainly never be -recognized! - -This ball was an exceptional affair, given some time before Shrovetide, -in honor of the anniversary of the birth of a famous draftsman; and it -was expected to be much gayer, noisier, more Bohemian than the ordinary -masked ball. Numbers of artists had arranged to go, accompanied by a -whole cohort of models and pupils, who, by midnight, began to create a -tremendous din. Raoul climbed the grand staircase at five minutes to -twelve, did not linger to look at the motley dresses displayed all the -way up the marble steps, one of the richest settings in the world, -allowed no facetious mask to draw him into a war of wits, replied to no -jests and shook off the bold familiarity of a number of couples who had -already become a trifle too gay. Crossing the big crush-room and -escaping from a mad whirl of dancers in which he was caught for a -moment, he at last entered the room mentioned in Christine's letter. -He found it crammed; for this small space was the point where all those -who were going to supper in the Rotunda crossed those who were -returning from taking a glass of champagne. The fun, here, waxed fast -and furious. - -Raoul leaned against a door-post and waited. He did not wait long. A -black domino passed and gave a quick squeeze to the tips of his -fingers. He understood that it was she and followed her: - -"Is that you, Christine?" he asked, between his teeth. - -The black domino turned round promptly and raised her finger to her -lips, no doubt to warn him not to mention her name again. Raoul -continued to follow her in silence. - -He was afraid of losing her, after meeting her again in such strange -circumstances. His grudge against her was gone. He no longer doubted -that she had "nothing to reproach herself with," however peculiar and -inexplicable her conduct might seem. He was ready to make any display -of clemency, forgiveness or cowardice. He was in love. And, no doubt, -he would soon receive a very natural explanation of her curious absence. - -The black domino turned back from time to time to see if the white -domino was still following. - -As Raoul once more passed through the great crush-room, this time in -the wake of his guide, he could not help noticing a group crowding -round a person whose disguise, eccentric air and gruesome appearance -were causing a sensation. It was a man dressed all in scarlet, with a -huge hat and feathers on the top of a wonderful death's head. From his -shoulders hung an immense red-velvet cloak, which trailed along the -floor like a king's train; and on this cloak was embroidered, in gold -letters, which every one read and repeated aloud, "Don't touch me! I -am Red Death stalking abroad!" - -Then one, greatly daring, did try to touch him ... but a skeleton hand -shot out of a crimson sleeve and violently seized the rash one's wrist; -and he, feeling the clutch of the knucklebones, the furious grasp of -Death, uttered a cry of pain and terror. When Red Death released him -at last, he ran away like a very madman, pursued by the jeers of the -bystanders. - -It was at this moment that Raoul passed in front of the funereal -masquerader, who had just happened to turn in his direction. And he -nearly exclaimed: - -"The death's head of Perros-Guirec!" - -He had recognized him! ... He wanted to dart forward, forgetting -Christine; but the black domino, who also seemed a prey to some strange -excitement, caught him by the arm and dragged him from the crush-room, -far from the mad crowd through which Red Death was stalking... - -The black domino kept on turning back and, apparently, on two occasions -saw something that startled her, for she hurried her pace and Raoul's -as though they were being pursued. - -They went up two floors. Here, the stairs and corridors were almost -deserted. The black domino opened the door of a private box and -beckoned to the white domino to follow her. Then Christine, whom he -recognized by the sound of her voice, closed the door behind them and -warned him, in a whisper, to remain at the back of the box and on no -account to show himself. Raoul took off his mask. Christine kept hers -on. And, when Raoul was about to ask her to remove it, he was -surprised to see her put her ear to the partition and listen eagerly -for a sound outside. Then she opened the door ajar, looked out into -the corridor and, in a low voice, said: - -"He must have gone up higher." Suddenly she exclaimed: "He is coming -down again!" - -She tried to close the door, but Raoul prevented her; for he had seen, -on the top step of the staircase that led to the floor above, A RED -FOOT, followed by another ... and slowly, majestically, the whole -scarlet dress of Red Death met his eyes. And he once more saw the -death's head of Perros-Guirec. - -"It's he!" he exclaimed. "This time, he shall not escape me! ..." - -But Christian{sic} had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul was on -the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside. - -"Whom do you mean by 'he'?" she asked, in a changed voice. "Who shall -not escape you?" - -Raoul tried to overcome the girl's resistance by force, but she -repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her. -He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper. - -"Who?" he repeated angrily. "Why, he, the man who hides behind that -hideous mask of death! ... The evil genius of the churchyard at Perros! -... Red Death! ... In a word, madam, your friend ... your Angel of -Music! ... But I shall snatch off his mask, as I shall snatch off my -own; and, this time, we shall look each other in the face, he and I, -with no veil and no lies between us; and I shall know whom you love and -who loves you!" - -He burst into a mad laugh, while Christine gave a disconsolate moan -behind her velvet mask. With a tragic gesture, she flung out her two -arms, which fixed a barrier of white flesh against the door. - -"In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass! ..." - -He stopped. What had she said? ... In the name of their love? ... -Never before had she confessed that she loved him. And yet she had had -opportunities enough ... Pooh, her only object was to gain a few -seconds! ... She wished to give the Red Death time to escape ... And, -in accents of childish hatred, he said: - -"You lie, madam, for you do not love me and you have never loved me! -What a poor fellow I must be to let you mock and flout me as you have -done! Why did you give me every reason for hope, at Perros ... for -honest hope, madam, for I am an honest man and I believed you to be an -honest woman, when your only intention was to deceive me! Alas, you -have deceived us all! You have taken a shameful advantage of the -candid affection of your benefactress herself, who continues to believe -in your sincerity while you go about the Opera ball with Red Death! ... -I despise you! ..." - -And he burst into tears. She allowed him to insult her. She thought -of but one thing, to keep him from leaving the box. - -"You will beg my pardon, one day, for all those ugly words, Raoul, and -when you do I shall forgive you!" - -He shook his head. "No, no, you have driven me mad! When I think that -I had only one object in life: to give my name to an opera wench!" - -"Raoul! ... How can you?" - -"I shall die of shame!" - -"No, dear, live!" said Christine's grave and changed voice. "And ... -good-by. Good-by, Raoul ..." - -The boy stepped forward, staggering as he went. He risked one more -sarcasm: - -"Oh, you must let me come and applaud you from time to time!" - -"I shall never sing again, Raoul! ..." - -"Really?" he replied, still more satirically. "So he is taking you off -the stage: I congratulate you! ... But we shall meet in the Bois, one -of these evenings!" - -"Not in the Bois nor anywhere, Raoul: you shall not see me again ..." - -"May one ask at least to what darkness you are returning? ... For what -hell are you leaving, mysterious lady ... or for what paradise?" - -"I came to tell you, dear, but I can't tell you now ... you would not -believe me! You have lost faith in me, Raoul; it is finished!" - -She spoke in such a despairing voice that the lad began to feel remorse -for his cruelty. - -"But look here!" he cried. "Can't you tell me what all this means! -... You are free, there is no one to interfere with you... You go -about Paris ... You put on a domino to come to the ball... Why do you -not go home? ... What have you been doing this past fortnight? ... What -is this tale about the Angel of Music, which you have been telling -Mamma Valerius? Some one may have taken you in, played upon your -innocence. I was a witness of it myself, at Perros ... but you know -what to believe now! You seem to me quite sensible, Christine. You -know what you are doing ... And meanwhile Mamma Valerius lies waiting -for you at home and appealing to your 'good genius!' ... Explain -yourself, Christine, I beg of you! Any one might have been deceived as -I was. What is this farce?" - -Christine simply took off her mask and said: "Dear, it is a tragedy!" - -Raoul now saw her face and could not restrain an exclamation of -surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. A -mortal pallor covered those features, which he had known so charming -and so gentle, and sorrow had furrowed them with pitiless lines and -traced dark and unspeakably sad shadows under her eyes. - -"My dearest! My dearest!" he moaned, holding out his arms. "You -promised to forgive me ..." - -"Perhaps! ... Some day, perhaps!" she said, resuming her mask; and she -went away, forbidding him, with a gesture, to follow her. - -He tried to disobey her; but she turned round and repeated her gesture -of farewell with such authority that he dared not move a step. - -He watched her till she was out of sight. Then he also went down among -the crowd, hardly knowing what he was doing, with throbbing temples and -an aching heart; and, as he crossed the dancing-floor, he asked if -anybody had seen Red Death. Yes, every one had seen Red Death; but -Raoul could not find him; and, at two o'clock in the morning, he turned -down the passage, behind the scenes, that led to Christine Daae's -dressing-room. - -His footsteps took him to that room where he had first known suffering. -He tapped at the door. There was no answer. He entered, as he had -entered when he looked everywhere for "the man's voice." The room was -empty. A gas-jet was burning, turned down low. He saw some -writing-paper on a little desk. He thought of writing to Christine, -but he heard steps in the passage. He had only time to hide in the -inner room, which was separated from the dressing-room by a curtain. - -Christine entered, took off her mask with a weary movement and flung it -on the table. She sighed and let her pretty head fall into her two -hands. What was she thinking of? Of Raoul? No, for Raoul heard her -murmur: "Poor Erik!" - -At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was -persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. It -would have been quite natural if she had said, "Poor Raoul," after what -had happened between them. But, shaking her head, she repeated: "Poor -Erik!" - -What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she pitying -Erik when Raoul was so unhappy? - -Christine began to write, deliberately, calmly and so placidly that -Raoul, who was still trembling from the effects of the tragedy that -separated them, was painfully impressed. - -"What coolness!" he said to himself. - -She wrote on, filling two, three, four sheets. Suddenly, she raised -her head and hid the sheets in her bodice ... She seemed to be -listening ... Raoul also listened ... Whence came that strange sound, -that distant rhythm? ... A faint singing seemed to issue from the walls -... yes, it was as though the walls themselves were singing! ... The -song became plainer ... the words were now distinguishable ... he heard -a voice, a very beautiful, very soft, very captivating voice ... but, -for all its softness, it remained a male voice ... The voice came -nearer and nearer ... it came through the wall ... it approached ... -and now the voice was IN THE ROOM, in front of Christine. Christine -rose and addressed the voice, as though speaking to some one: - -"Here I am, Erik," she said. "I am ready. But you are late." - -Raoul, peeping from behind the curtain, could not believe his eyes, -which showed him nothing. Christine's face lit up. A smile of -happiness appeared upon her bloodless lips, a smile like that of sick -people when they receive the first hope of recovery. - -The voice without a body went on singing; and certainly Raoul had never -in his life heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet, more -gloriously insidious, more delicate, more powerful, in short, more -irresistibly triumphant. He listened to it in a fever and he now began -to understand how Christine Daae was able to appear one evening, before -the stupefied audience, with accents of a beauty hitherto unknown, of a -superhuman exaltation, while doubtless still under the influence of the -mysterious and invisible master. - -The voice was singing the Wedding-night Song from Romeo and Juliet. -Raoul saw Christine stretch out her arms to the voice as she had done, -in Perros churchyard, to the invisible violin playing The Resurrection -of Lazarus. And nothing could describe the passion with which the -voice sang: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -The strains went through Raoul's heart. Struggling against the charm -that seemed to deprive him of all his will and all his energy and of -almost all his lucidity at the moment when he needed them most, he -succeeded in drawing back the curtain that hid him and he walked to -where Christine stood. She herself was moving to the back of the room, -the whole wall of which was occupied by a great mirror that reflected -her image, but not his, for he was just behind her and entirely covered -by her. - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Christine walked toward her image in the glass and the image came -toward her. The two Christines--the real one and the reflection--ended -by touching; and Raoul put out his arms to clasp the two in one -embrace. But, by a sort of dazzling miracle that sent him staggering, -Raoul was suddenly flung back, while an icy blast swept over his face; -he saw, not two, but four, eight, twenty Christines spinning round him, -laughing at him and fleeing so swiftly that he could not touch one of -them. At last, everything stood still again; and he saw himself in the -glass. But Christine had disappeared. - -He rushed up to the glass. He struck at the walls. Nobody! And -meanwhile the room still echoed with a distant passionate singing: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Which way, which way had Christine gone? ... Which way would she -return? ... - -Would she return? Alas, had she not declared to him that everything -was finished? And was the voice not repeating: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -To me? To whom? - -Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair which -Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into his -hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his young -cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, tears -that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which is -common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud: - -"Who is this Erik?" he said. - - - -Chapter X Forget the Name of the Man's Voice - - -The day after Christine had vanished before his eyes in a sort of -dazzlement that still made him doubt the evidence of his senses, M. le -Vicomte de Chagny called to inquire at Mamma Valerius'. He came upon a -charming picture. Christine herself was seated by the bedside of the -old lady, who was sitting up against the pillows, knitting. The pink -and white had returned to the young girl's cheeks. The dark rings -round her eyes had disappeared. Raoul no longer recognized the tragic -face of the day before. If the veil of melancholy over those adorable -features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of -the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he -could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all. - -She rose, without showing any emotion, and offered him her hand. But -Raoul's stupefaction was so great that he stood there dumfounded, -without a gesture, without a word. - -"Well, M. de Chagny," exclaimed Mamma Valerius, "don't you know our -Christine? Her good genius has sent her back to us!" - -"Mamma!" the girl broke in promptly, while a deep blush mantled to her -eyes. "I thought, mamma, that there was to be no more question of -that! ... You know there is no such thing as the Angel of Music!" - -"But, child, he gave you lessons for three months!" - -"Mamma, I have promised to explain everything to you one of these days; -and I hope to do so but you have promised me, until that day, to be -silent and to ask me no more questions whatever!" - -"Provided that you promised never to leave me again! But have you -promised that, Christine?" - -"Mamma, all this can not interest M. de Chagny." - -"On the contrary, mademoiselle," said the young man, in a voice which -he tried to make firm and brave, but which still trembled, "anything -that concerns you interests me to an extent which perhaps you will one -day understand. I do not deny that my surprise equals my pleasure at -finding you with your adopted mother and that, after what happened -between us yesterday, after what you said and what I was able to guess, -I hardly expected to see you here so soon. I should be the first to -delight at your return, if you were not so bent on preserving a secrecy -that may be fatal to you ... and I have been your friend too long not -to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, at a disastrous adventure which will -remain dangerous so long as we have not unraveled its threads and of -which you will certainly end by being the victim, Christine." - -At these words, Mamma Valerius tossed about in her bed. - -"What does this mean?" she cried. "Is Christine in danger?" - -"Yes, madame," said Raoul courageously, notwithstanding the signs which -Christine made to him. - -"My God!" exclaimed the good, simple old woman, gasping for breath. -"You must tell me everything, Christine! Why did you try to reassure -me? And what danger is it, M. de Chagny?" - -"An impostor is abusing her good faith." - -"Is the Angel of Music an impostor?" - -"She told you herself that there is no Angel of Music." - -"But then what is it, in Heaven's name? You will be the death of me!" - -"There is a terrible mystery around us, madame, around you, around -Christine, a mystery much more to be feared than any number of ghosts -or genii!" - -Mamma Valerius turned a terrified face to Christine, who had already -run to her adopted mother and was holding her in her arms. - -"Don't believe him, mummy, don't believe him," she repeated. - -"Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow. - -Christine was silent and Raoul resumed. - -"That is what you must promise, Christine. It is the only thing that -can reassure your mother and me. We will undertake not to ask you a -single question about the past, if you promise us to remain under our -protection in future." - -"That is an undertaking which I have not asked of you and a promise -which I refuse to make you!" said the young girl haughtily. "I am -mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right to control -them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. As to what I have done -during the last fortnight, there is only one man in the world who has -the right to demand an account of me: my husband! Well, I have no -husband and I never mean to marry!" - -She threw out her hands to emphasize her words and Raoul turned pale, -not only because of the words which he had heard, but because he had -caught sight of a plain gold ring on Christine's finger. - -"You have no husband and yet you wear a wedding-ring." - -He tried to seize her hand, but she swiftly drew it back. - -"That's a present!" she said, blushing once more and vainly striving to -hide her embarrassment. - -"Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been given -by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? Why -torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise has -been accepted!" - -"That's what I said!" exclaimed the old lady. - -"And what did she answer, madame?" - -"What I chose," said Christine, driven to exasperation. "Don't you -think, monsieur, that this cross-examination has lasted long enough? -As far as I am concerned ..." - -Raoul was afraid to let her finish her speech. He interrupted her: - -"I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know the -good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, you no -doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to tell you what -I have seen--and I have seen more than you suspect, Christine--or what -I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, I have sometimes been -inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes." - -"Well, what did you see, sir, or think you saw?" - -"I saw your ecstasy AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE, Christine: the voice -that came from the wall or the next room to yours ... yes, YOUR -ECSTASY! And that is what makes me alarmed on your behalf. You are -under a very dangerous spell. And yet it seems that you are aware of -the imposture, because you say to-day THAT THERE IS NO ANGEL OF MUSIC! -In that case, Christine, why did you follow him that time? Why did you -stand up, with radiant features, as though you were really hearing -angels? ... Ah, it is a very dangerous voice, Christine, for I myself, -when I heard it, was so much fascinated by it that you vanished before -my eyes without my seeing which way you passed! Christine, Christine, -in the name of Heaven, in the name of your father who is in Heaven now -and who loved you so dearly and who loved me too, Christine, tell us, -tell your benefactress and me, to whom does that voice belong? If you -do, we will save you in spite of yourself. Come, Christine, the name -of the man! The name of the man who had the audacity to put a ring on -your finger!" - -"M. de Chagny," the girl declared coldly, "you shall never know!" - -Thereupon, seeing the hostility with which her ward had addressed the -viscount, Mamma Valerius suddenly took Christine's part. - -"And, if she does love that man, Monsieur le Vicomte, even then it is -no business of yours!" - -"Alas, madame," Raoul humbly replied, unable to restrain his tears, -"alas, I believe that Christine really does love him! ... But it is not -only that which drives me to despair; for what I am not certain of, -madame, is that the man whom Christine loves is worthy of her love!" - -"It is for me to be the judge of that, monsieur!" said Christine, -looking Raoul angrily in the face. - -"When a man," continued Raoul, "adopts such romantic methods to entice -a young girl's affections. .." - -"The man must be either a villain, or the girl a fool: is that it?" - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul, why do you condemn a man whom you have never seen, whom no one -knows and about whom you yourself know nothing?" - -"Yes, Christine ... Yes ... I at least know the name that you thought -to keep from me for ever ... The name of your Angel of Music, -mademoiselle, is Erik!" - -Christine at once betrayed herself. She turned as white as a sheet and -stammered: "Who told you?" - -"You yourself!" - -"How do you mean?" - -"By pitying him the other night, the night of the masked ball. When -you went to your dressing-room, did you not say, 'Poor Erik?' Well, -Christine, there was a poor Raoul who overheard you." - -"This is the second time that you have listened behind the door, M. de -Chagny!" - -"I was not behind the door ... I was in the dressing-room, in the inner -room, mademoiselle." - -"Oh, unhappy man!" moaned the girl, showing every sign of unspeakable -terror. "Unhappy man! Do you want to be killed?" - -"Perhaps." - -Raoul uttered this "perhaps" with so much love and despair in his voice -that Christine could not keep back a sob. She took his hands and -looked at him with all the pure affection of which she was capable: - -"Raoul," she said, "forget THE MAN'S VOICE and do not even remember its -name... You must never try to fathom the mystery of THE MAN'S VOICE." - -"Is the mystery so very terrible?" - -"There is no more awful mystery on this earth. Swear to me that you -will make no attempt to find out," she insisted. "Swear to me that you -will never come to my dressing-room, unless I send for you." - -"Then you promise to send for me sometimes, Christine?" - -"I promise." - -"When?" - -"To-morrow." - -"Then I swear to do as you ask." - -He kissed her hands and went away, cursing Erik and resolving to be -patient. - - - -Chapter XI Above the Trap-Doors - - -The next day, he saw her at the Opera. She was still wearing the plain -gold ring. She was gentle and kind to him. She talked to him of the -plans which he was forming, of his future, of his career. - -He told her that the date of the Polar expedition had been put forward -and that he would leave France in three weeks, or a month at latest. -She suggested, almost gaily, that he must look upon the voyage with -delight, as a stage toward his coming fame. And when he replied that -fame without love was no attraction in his eyes, she treated him as a -child whose sorrows were only short-lived. - -"How can you speak so lightly of such serious things?" he asked. -"Perhaps we shall never see each other again! I may die during that -expedition." - -"Or I," she said simply. - -She no longer smiled or jested. She seemed to be thinking of some new -thing that had entered her mind for the first time. Her eyes were all -aglow with it. - -"What are you thinking of, Christine?" - -"I am thinking that we shall not see each other again ..." - -"And does that make you so radiant?" - -"And that, in a month, we shall have to say good-by for ever!" - -"Unless, Christine, we pledge our faith and wait for each other for -ever." - -She put her hand on his mouth. - -"Hush, Raoul! ... You know there is no question of that ... And we -shall never be married: that is understood!" - -She seemed suddenly almost unable to contain an overpowering gaiety. -She clapped her hands with childish glee. Raoul stared at her in -amazement. - -"But ... but," she continued, holding out her two hands to Raoul, or -rather giving them to him, as though she had suddenly resolved to make -him a present of them, "but if we can not be married, we can ... we can -be engaged! Nobody will know but ourselves, Raoul. There have been -plenty of secret marriages: why not a secret engagement? ... We are -engaged, dear, for a month! In a month, you will go away, and I can be -happy at the thought of that month all my life long!" - -She was enchanted with her inspiration. Then she became serious again. - -"This," she said, "IS A HAPPINESS THAT WILL HARM NO ONE." - -Raoul jumped at the idea. He bowed to Christine and said: - -"Mademoiselle, I have the honor to ask for your hand." - -"Why, you have both of them already, my dear betrothed! ... Oh, Raoul, -how happy we shall be! ... We must play at being engaged all day long." - -It was the prettiest game in the world and they enjoyed it like the -children that they were. Oh, the wonderful speeches they made to each -other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at hearts as -other children might play at ball; only, as it was really their two -hearts that they flung to and fro, they had to be very, very handy to -catch them, each time, without hurting them. - -One day, about a week after the game began, Raoul's heart was badly -hurt and he stopped playing and uttered these wild words: - -"I shan't go to the North Pole!" - -Christine, who, in her innocence, had not dreamed of such a -possibility, suddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached -herself bitterly. She did not say a word in reply to Raoul's remark -and went straight home. - -This happened in the afternoon, in the singer's dressing-room, where -they met every day and where they amused themselves by dining on three -biscuits, two glasses of port and a bunch of violets. In the evening, -she did not sing; and he did not receive his usual letter, though they -had arranged to write to each other daily during that month. The next -morning, he ran off to Mamma Valerius, who told him that Christine had -gone away for two days. She had left at five o'clock the day before. - -Raoul was distracted. He hated Mamma Valerius for giving him such news -as that with such stupefying calmness. He tried to sound her, but the -old lady obviously knew nothing. - -Christine returned on the following day. She returned in triumph. She -renewed her extraordinary success of the gala performance. Since the -adventure of the "toad," Carlotta had not been able to appear on the -stage. The terror of a fresh "co-ack" filled her heart and deprived -her of all her power of singing; and the theater that had witnessed her -incomprehensible disgrace had become odious to her. She contrived to -cancel her contract. Daae was offered the vacant place for the time. -She received thunders of applause in the Juive. - -The viscount, who, of course, was present, was the only one to suffer -on hearing the thousand echoes of this fresh triumph; for Christine -still wore her plain gold ring. A distant voice whispered in the young -man's ear: - -"She is wearing the ring again to-night; and you did not give it to -her. She gave her soul again tonight and did not give it to you... If -she will not tell you what she has been doing the past two days ... you -must go and ask Erik!" - -He ran behind the scenes and placed himself in her way. She saw him -for her eyes were looking for him. She said: - -"Quick! Quick! ... Come!" - -And she dragged him to her dressing-room. - -Raoul at once threw himself on his knees before her. He swore to her -that he would go and he entreated her never again to withhold a single -hour of the ideal happiness which she had promised him. She let her -tears flow. They kissed like a despairing brother and sister who have -been smitten with a common loss and who meet to mourn a dead parent. - -Suddenly, she snatched herself from the young man's soft and timid -embrace, seemed to listen to something, and, with a quick gesture, -pointed to the door. When he was on the threshold, she said, in so low -a voice that the viscount guessed rather than heard her words: - -"To-morrow, my dear betrothed! And be happy, Raoul: I sang for you -to-night!" - -He returned the next day. But those two days of absence had broken the -charm of their delightful make-believe. They looked at each other, in -the dressing-room, with their sad eyes, without exchanging a word. -Raoul had to restrain himself not to cry out: - -"I am jealous! I am jealous! I am jealous!" - -But she heard him all the same. Then she said: - -"Come for a walk, dear. The air will do you good." - -Raoul thought that she would propose a stroll in the country, far from -that building which he detested as a prison whose jailer he could feel -walking within the walls ... the jailer Erik ... But she took him to -the stage and made him sit on the wooden curb of a well, in the -doubtful peace and coolness of a first scene set for the evening's -performance. - -On another day, she wandered with him, hand in, hand, along the -deserted paths of a garden whose creepers had been cut out by a -decorator's skilful hands. It was as though the real sky, the real -flowers, the real earth were forbidden her for all time and she -condemned to breathe no other air than that of the theater. An -occasional fireman passed, watching over their melancholy idyll from -afar. And she would drag him up above the clouds, in the magnificent -disorder of the grid, where she loved to make him giddy by running in -front of him along the frail bridges, among the thousands of ropes -fastened to the pulleys, the windlasses, the rollers, in the midst of a -regular forest of yards and masts. If he hesitated, she said, with an -adorable pout of her lips: - -"You, a sailor!" - -And then they returned to terra firma, that is to say, to some passage -that led them to the little girls' dancing-school, where brats between -six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope of becoming great -dancers one day, "covered with diamonds ..." Meanwhile, Christine gave -them sweets instead. - -She took him to the wardrobe and property-rooms, took him all over her -empire, which was artificial, but immense, covering seventeen stories -from the ground-floor to the roof and inhabited by an army of subjects. -She moved among them like a popular queen, encouraging them in their -labors, sitting down in the workshops, giving words of advice to the -workmen whose hands hesitated to cut into the rich stuffs that were to -clothe heroes. There were inhabitants of that country who practised -every trade. There were cobblers, there were goldsmiths. All had -learned to know her and to love her, for she always interested herself -in all their troubles and all their little hobbies. - -She knew unsuspected corners that were secretly occupied by little old -couples. She knocked at their door and introduced Raoul to them as a -Prince Charming who had asked for her hand; and the two of them, -sitting on some worm-eaten "property," would listen to the legends of -the Opera, even as, in their childhood, they had listened to the old -Breton tales. Those old people remembered nothing outside the Opera. -They had lived there for years without number. Past managements had -forgotten them; palace revolutions had taken no notice of them; the -history of France had run its course unknown to them; and nobody -recollected their existence. - -The precious days sped in this way; and Raoul and Christine, by -affecting excessive interest in outside matters, strove awkwardly to -hide from each other the one thought of their hearts. One fact was -certain, that Christine, who until then had shown herself the stronger -of the two, became suddenly inexpressibly nervous. When on their -expeditions, she would start running without reason or else suddenly -stop; and her hand, turning ice-cold in a moment, would hold the young -man back. Sometimes her eyes seemed to pursue imaginary shadows. She -cried, "This way," and "This way," and "This way," laughing a -breathless laugh that often ended in tears. Then Raoul tried to speak, -to question her, in spite of his promises. But, even before he had -worded his question, she answered feverishly: - -"Nothing ... I swear it is nothing." - -Once, when they were passing before an open trapdoor on the stage, -Raoul stopped over the dark cavity. - -"You have shown me over the upper part of your empire, Christine, but -there are strange stories told of the lower part. Shall we go down?" - -She caught him in her arms, as though she feared to see him disappear -down the black hole, and, in a trembling voice, whispered: - -"Never! ... I will not have you go there! ... Besides, it's not mine -... EVERYTHING THAT IS UNDERGROUND BELONGS TO HIM!" - -Raoul looked her in the eyes and said roughly: - -"So he lives down there, does he?" - -"I never said so ... Who told you a thing like that? Come away! I -sometimes wonder if you are quite sane, Raoul ... You always take -things in such an impossible way ... Come along! Come!" - -And she literally dragged him away, for he was obstinate and wanted to -remain by the trap-door; that hole attracted him. - -Suddenly, the trap-door was closed and so quickly that they did not -even see the hand that worked it; and they remained quite dazed. - -"Perhaps HE was there," Raoul said, at last. - -She shrugged her shoulders, but did not seem easy. - -"No, no, it was the 'trap-door-shutters.' They must do something, you -know ... They open and shut the trap-doors without any particular -reason ... It's like the 'door-shutters:' they must spend their time -somehow." - -"But suppose it were HE, Christine?" - -"No, no! He has shut himself up, he is working." - -"Oh, really! He's working, is he?" - -"Yes, he can't open and shut the trap-doors and work at the same time." -She shivered. - -"What is he working at?" - -"Oh, something terrible! ... But it's all the better for us... When -he's working at that, he sees nothing; he does not eat, drink, or -breathe for days and nights at a time ... he becomes a living dead man -and has no time to amuse himself with the trap-doors." She shivered -again. She was still holding him in her arms. Then she sighed and -said, in her turn: - -"Suppose it were HE!" - -"Are you afraid of him?" - -"No, no, of course not," she said. - -For all that, on the next day and the following days, Christine was -careful to avoid the trap-doors. Her agitation only increased as the -hours passed. At last, one afternoon, she arrived very late, with her -face so desperately pale and her eyes so desperately red, that Raoul -resolved to go to all lengths, including that which he foreshadowed -when he blurted out that he would not go on the North Pole expedition -unless she first told him the secret of the man's voice. - -"Hush! Hush, in Heaven's name! Suppose HE heard you, you unfortunate -Raoul!" - -And Christine's eyes stared wildly at everything around her. - -"I will remove you from his power, Christine, I swear it. And you -shall not think of him any more." - -"Is it possible?" - -She allowed herself this doubt, which was an encouragernent, while -dragging the young man up to the topmost floor of the theater, far, -very far from the trap-doors. - -"I shall hide you in some unknown corner of the world, where HE can not -come to look for you. You will be safe; and then I shall go away ... -as you have sworn never to marry." - -Christine seized Raoul's hands and squeezed them with incredible -rapture. But, suddenly becoming alarmed again, she turned away her -head. - -"Higher!" was all she said. "Higher still!" - -And she dragged him up toward the summit. - -He had a difficulty in following her. They were soon under the very -roof, in the maze of timber-work. They slipped through the buttresses, -the rafters, the joists; they ran from beam to beam as they might have -run from tree to tree in a forest. - -And, despite the care which she took to look behind her at every -moment, she failed to see a shadow which followed her like her own -shadow, which stopped when she stopped, which started again when she -did and which made no more noise than a well-conducted shadow should. -As for Raoul, he saw nothing either; for, when he had Christine in -front of him, nothing interested him that happened behind. - - - -Chapter XII Apollo's Lyre - - -On this way, they reached the roof. Christine tripped over it as -lightly as a swallow. Their eyes swept the empty space between the -three domes and the triangular pediment. She breathed freely over -Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below. She called -Raoul to come quite close to her and they walked side by side along the -zinc streets, in the leaden avenues; they looked at their twin shapes -in the huge tanks, full of stagnant water, where, in the hot weather, -the little boys of the ballet, a score or so, learn to swim and dive. - -The shadow had followed behind them clinging to their steps; and the -two children little suspected its presence when they at last sat down, -trustingly, under the mighty protection of Apollo, who, with a great -bronze gesture, lifted his huge lyre to the heart of a crimson sky. - -It was a gorgeous spring evening. Clouds, which had just received -their gossamer robe of gold and purple from the setting sun, drifted -slowly by; and Christine said to Raoul: - -"Soon we shall go farther and faster than the clouds, to the end of the -world, and then you will leave me, Raoul. But, if, when the moment -comes for you to take me away, I refuse to go with you--well you must -carry me off by force!" - -"Are you afraid that you will change your mind, Christine?" - -"I don't know," she said, shaking her head in an odd fashion. "He is a -demon!" And she shivered and nestled in his arms with a moan. "I am -afraid now of going back to live with him ... in the ground!" - -"What compels you to go back, Christine?" - -"If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen! ... But -I can't do it, I can't do it! ... I know one ought to be sorry for -people who live underground ... But he is too horrible! And yet the -time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I do not go, he will -come and fetch me with his voice. And he will drag me with him, -underground, and go on his knees before me, with his death's head. And -he will tell me that he loves me! And he will cry! Oh, those tears, -Raoul, those tears in the two black eye-sockets of the death's head! I -can not see those tears flow again!" - -She wrung her hands in anguish, while Raoul pressed her to his heart. - -"No, no, you shall never again hear him tell you that he loves you! -You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly at -once!" - -And he tried to drag her away, then and there. But she stopped him. - -"No, no," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Not now! ... It would be -too cruel ... let him hear me sing to-morrow evening ... and then we -will go away. You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room at -midnight exactly. He will then be waiting for me in the dining-room by -the lake ... we shall be free and you shall take me away ... You must -promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse; for I feel that, if I go back -this time, I shall perhaps never return." - -And she gave a sigh to which it seemed to her that another sigh, behind -her, replied. - -"Didn't you hear?" - -Her teeth chattered. - -"No," said Raoul, "I heard nothing." - -"It is too terrible," she confessed, "to be always trembling like this! -... And yet we run no danger here; we are at home, in the sky, in the -open air, in the light. The sun is flaming; and night-birds can not -bear to look at the sun. I have never seen him by daylight ... it must -be awful! ... Oh, the first time I saw him! ... I thought that he was -going to die." - -"Why?" asked Raoul, really frightened at the aspect which this strange -confidence was taking. - -"BECAUSE I HAD SEEN HIM!" - -This time, Raoul and Christine turned round at the same time: - -"There is some one in pain," said Raoul. "Perhaps some one has been -hurt. Did you hear?" - -"I can't say," Christine confessed. "Even when he is not there, my -ears are full of his sighs. Still, if you heard ..." - -They stood up and looked around them. They were quite alone on the -immense lead roof. They sat down again and Raoul said: - -"Tell me how you saw him first." - -"I had heard him for three months without seeing him. The first time I -heard it, I thought, as you did, that that adorable voice was singing -in another room. I went out and looked everywhere; but, as you know, -Raoul, my dressing-room is very much by itself; and I could not find -the voice outside my room, whereas it went on steadily inside. And it -not only sang, but it spoke to me and answered my questions, like a -real man's voice, with this difference, that it was as beautiful as the -voice of an angel. I had never got the Angel of Music whom my poor -father had promised to send me as soon as he was dead. I really think -that Mamma Valerius was a little bit to blame. I told her about it; -and she at once said, 'It must be the Angel; at any rate, you can do no -harm by asking him.' I did so; and the man's voice replied that, yes, -it was the Angel's voice, the voice which I was expecting and which my -father had promised me. From that time onward, the voice and I became -great friends. It asked leave to give me lessons every day. I agreed -and never failed to keep the appointment which it gave me in my -dressing-room. You have no idea, though you have heard the voice, of -what those lessons were like." - -"No, I have no idea," said Raoul. "What was your accompaniment?" - -"We were accompanied by a music which I do not know: it was behind the -wall and wonderfully accurate. The voice seemed to understand mine -exactly, to know precisely where my father had left off teaching me. -In a few weeks' time, I hardly knew myself when I sang. I was even -frightened. I seemed to dread a sort of witchcraft behind it; but -Mamma Valerius reassured me. She said that she knew I was much too -simple a girl to give the devil a hold on me ... My progress, by the -voice's own order, was kept a secret between the voice, Mamma Valerius -and myself. It was a curious thing, but, outside the dressing-room, I -sang with my ordinary, every-day voice and nobody noticed anything. I -did all that the voice asked. It said, 'Wait and see: we shall -astonish Paris!' And I waited and lived on in a sort of ecstatic dream. -It was then that I saw you for the first time one evening, in the -house. I was so glad that I never thought of concealing my delight -when I reached my dressing-room. Unfortunately, the voice was there -before me and soon noticed, by my air, that something had happened. It -asked what was the matter and I saw no reason for keeping our story -secret or concealing the place which you filled in my heart. Then the -voice was silent. I called to it, but it did not reply; I begged and -entreated, but in vain. I was terrified lest it had gone for good. I -wish to Heaven it had, dear! ... That night, I went home in a -desperate condition. I told Mamma Valerius, who said, 'Why, of course, -the voice is jealous!' And that, dear, first revealed to me that I -loved you." - -Christine stopped and laid her head on Raoul's shoulder. They sat like -that for a moment, in silence, and they did not see, did not perceive -the movement, at a few steps from them, of the creeping shadow of two -great black wings, a shadow that came along the roof so near, so near -them that it could have stifled them by closing over them. - -"The next day," Christine continued, with a sigh, "I went back to my -dressing-room in a very pensive frame of mind. The voice was there, -spoke to me with great sadness and told me plainly that, if I must -bestow my heart on earth, there was nothing for the voice to do but to -go back to Heaven. And it said this with such an accent of HUMAN -sorrow that I ought then and there to have suspected and begun to -believe that I was the victim of my deluded senses. But my faith in -the voice, with which the memory of my father was so closely -intermingled, remained undisturbed. I feared nothing so much as that I -might never hear it again; I had thought about my love for you and -realized all the useless danger of it; and I did not even know if you -remembered me. Whatever happened, your position in society forbade me -to contemplate the possibility of ever marrying you; and I swore to the -voice that you were no more than a brother to me nor ever would be and -that my heart was incapable of any earthly love. And that, dear, was -why I refused to recognize or see you when I met you on the stage or in -the passages. Meanwhile, the hours during which the voice taught me -were spent in a divine frenzy, until, at last, the voice said to me, -'You can now, Christine Daae, give to men a little of the music of -Heaven.' I don't know how it was that Carlotta did not come to the -theater that night nor why I was called upon to sing in her stead; but -I sang with a rapture I had never known before and I felt for a moment -as if my soul were leaving my body!" - -"Oh, Christine," said Raoul, "my heart quivered that night at every -accent of your voice. I saw the tears stream down your cheeks and I -wept with you. How could you sing, sing like that while crying?" - -"I felt myself fainting," said Christine, "I closed my eyes. When I -opened them, you were by my side. But the voice was there also, Raoul! -I was afraid for your sake and again I would not recognize you and -began to laugh when you reminded me that you had picked up my scarf in -the sea! ... Alas, there is no deceiving the voice! ... The voice -recognized you and the voice was jealous! ... It said that, if I did -not love you, I would not avoid you, but treat you like any other old -friend. It made me scene upon scene. At last, I said to the voice, -'That will do! I am going to Perros to-morrow, to pray on my father's -grave, and I shall ask M. Raoul de Chagny to go with me.' 'Do as you -please,' replied the voice, 'but I shall be at Perros too, for I am -wherever you are, Christine; and, if you are still worthy of me, if you -have not lied to me, I will play you The Resurrection of Lazarus, on -the stroke of midnight, on your father's tomb and on your father's -violin.' That, dear, was how I came to write you the letter that -brought you to Perros. How could I have been so beguiled? How was it, -when I saw the personal, the selfish point of view of the voice, that I -did not suspect some impostor? Alas, I was no longer mistress of -myself: I had become his thing!" - -"But, after all," cried Raoul, "you soon came to know the truth! Why -did you not at once rid yourself of that abominable nightmare?" - -"Know the truth, Raoul? Rid myself of that nightmare? But, my poor -boy, I was not caught in the nightmare until the day when I learned the -truth! ... Pity me, Raoul, pity me! ... You remember the terrible -evening when Carlotta thought that she had been turned into a toad on -the stage and when the house was suddenly plunged in darkness through -the chandelier crashing to the floor? There were killed and wounded -that night and the whole theater rang with terrified screams. My first -thought was for you and the voice. I was at once easy, where you were -concerned, for I had seen you in your brother's box and I knew that you -were not in danger. But the voice had told me that it would be at the -performance and I was really afraid for it, just as if it had been an -ordinary person who was capable of dying. I thought to myself, 'The -chandelier may have come down upon the voice.' I was then on the stage -and was nearly running into the house, to look for the voice among the -killed and wounded, when I thought that, if the voice was safe, it -would be sure to be in my dressing-room and I rushed to my room. The -voice was not there. I locked my door and, with tears in my eyes, -besought it, if it were still alive, to manifest itself to me. The -voice did not reply, but suddenly I heard a long, beautiful wail which -I knew well. It is the plaint of Lazarus when, at the sound of the -Redeemer's voice, he begins to open his eyes and see the light of day. -It was the music which you and I, Raoul, heard at Perros. And then the -voice began to sing the leading phrase, 'Come! And believe in me! -Whoso believes in me shall live! Walk! Whoso hath believed in me -shall never die! ...' I can not tell you the effect which that music -had upon me. It seemed to command me, personally, to come, to stand up -and come to it. It retreated and I followed. 'Come! And believe in -me!' I believed in it, I came ... I came and--this was the -extraordinary thing--my dressing-room, as I moved, seemed to lengthen -out ... to lengthen out ... Evidently, it must have been an effect of -mirrors ... for I had the mirror in front of me ... And, suddenly, I -was outside the room without knowing how!" - -"What! Without knowing how? Christine, Christine, you must really -stop dreaming!" - -"I was not dreaming, dear, I was outside my room without knowing how. -You, who saw me disappear from my room one evening, may be able to -explain it; but I can not. I can only tell you that, suddenly, there -was no mirror before me and no dressing-room. I was in a dark passage, -I was frightened and I cried out. It was quite dark, but for a faint -red glimmer at a distant corner of the wall. I tried out. My voice -was the only sound, for the singing and the violin had stopped. And, -suddenly, a hand was laid on mine ... or rather a stone-cold, bony -thing that seized my wrist and did not let go. I cried out again. An -arm took me round the waist and supported me. I struggled for a little -while and then gave up the attempt. I was dragged toward the little -red light and then I saw that I was in the hands of a man wrapped in a -large cloak and wearing a mask that hid his whole face. I made one -last effort; my limbs stiffened, my mouth opened to scream, but a hand -closed it, a hand which I felt on my lips, on my skin ... a hand that -smelt of death. Then I fainted away. - -"When I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded by darkness. A -lantern, standing on the ground, showed a bubbling well. The water -splashing from the well disappeared, almost at once, under the floor on -which I was lying, with my head on the knee of the man in the black -cloak and the black mask. He was bathing my temples and his hands -smelt of death. I tried to push them away and asked, 'Who are you? -Where is the voice?' His only answer was a sigh. Suddenly, a hot -breath passed over my face and I perceived a white shape, beside the -man's black shape, in the darkness. The black shape lifted me on to -the white shape, a glad neighing greeted my astounded ears and I -murmured, 'Cesar!' The animal quivered. Raoul, I was lying half back -on a saddle and I had recognized the white horse out of the PROFETA, -which I had so often fed with sugar and sweets. I remembered that, one -evening, there was a rumor in the theater that the horse had -disappeared and that it had been stolen by the Opera ghost. I believed -in the voice, but had never believed in the ghost. Now, however, I -began to wonder, with a shiver, whether I was the ghost's prisoner. I -called upon the voice to help me, for I should never have imagined that -the voice and the ghost were one. You have heard about the Opera -ghost, have you not, Raoul?" - -"Yes, but tell me what happened when you were on the white horse of the -Profeta?" - -"I made no movement and let myself go. The black shape held me up, and -I made no effort to escape. A curious feeling of peacefulness came -over me and I thought that I must be under the influence of some -cordial. I had the full command of my senses; and my eyes became used -to the darkness, which was lit, here and there, by fitful gleams. I -calculated that we were in a narrow circular gallery, probably running -all round the Opera, which is immense, underground. I had once been -down into those cellars, but had stopped at the third floor, though -there were two lower still, large enough to hold a town. But the -figures of which I caught sight had made me run away. There are demons -down there, quite black, standing in front of boilers, and they wield -shovels and pitchforks and poke up fires and stir up flames and, if you -come too near them, they frighten you by suddenly opening the red -mouths of their furnaces ... Well, while Cesar was quietly carrying me -on his back, I saw those black demons in the distance, looking quite -small, in front of the red fires of their furnaces: they came into -sight, disappeared and came into sight again, as we went on our winding -way. At last, they disappeared altogether. The shape was still -holding me up and Cesar walked on, unled and sure-footed. I could not -tell you, even approximately, how long this ride lasted; I only know -that we seemed to turn and turn and often went down a spiral stair into -the very heart of the earth. Even then, it may be that my head was -turning, but I don't think so: no, my mind was quite clear. At last, -Cesar raised his nostrils, sniffed the air and quickened his pace a -little. I felt a moistness in the air and Cesar stopped. The darkness -had lifted. A sort of bluey light surrounded us. We were on the edge -of a lake, whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the -darkness; but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat -fastened to an iron ring on the wharf!" - -"A boat!" - -"Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing -supernatural about that underground lake and boat. But think of the -exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't -know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's -shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again. My -gruesome escort must have noticed it, for he sent Cesar back and I -heard his hoofs trampling up a staircase while the man jumped into the -boat, untied the rope that held it and seized the oars. He rowed with -a quick, powerful stroke; and his eyes, under the mask, never left me. -We slipped across the noiseless water in the bluey light which I told -you of; then we were in the dark again and we touched shore. And I was -once more taken up in the man's arms. I cried aloud. And then, -suddenly, I was silent, dazed by the light... Yes, a dazzling light in -the midst of which I had been put down. I sprang to my feet. I was in -the middle of a drawing-room that seemed to me to be decorated, adorned -and furnished with nothing but flowers, flowers both magnificent and -stupid, because of the silk ribbons that tied them to baskets, like -those which they sell in the shops on the boulevards. They were much -too civilized flowers, like those which I used to find in my -dressing-room after a first night. And, in the midst of all these -flowers, stood the black shape of the man in the mask, with arms -crossed, and he said, 'Don't be afraid, Christine; you are in no -danger.' IT WAS THE VOICE! - -"My anger equaled my amazement. I rushed at the mask and tried to -snatch it away, so as to see the face of the voice. The man said, 'You -are in no danger, so long as you do not touch the mask.' And, taking me -gently by the wrists, he forced me into a chair and then went down on -his knees before me and said nothing more! His humility gave me back -some of my courage; and the light restored me to the realties of life. -However extraordinary the adventure might be, I was now surrounded by -mortal, visible, tangible things. The furniture, the hangings, the -candles, the vases and the very flowers in their baskets, of which I -could almost have told whence they came and what they cost, were bound -to confine my imagination to the limits of a drawing-room quite as -commonplace as any that, at least, had the excuse of not being in the -cellars of the Opera. I had, no doubt, to do with a terrible, -eccentric person, who, in some mysterious fashion, had succeeded in -taking up his abode there, under the Opera house, five stories below -the level of the ground. And the voice, the voice which I had -recognized under the mask, was on its knees before me, WAS A MAN! And -I began to cry... The man, still kneeling, must have understood the -cause of my tears, for he said, 'It is true, Christine! ... I am not an -Angel, nor a genius, nor a ghost ... I am Erik!'" - -Christine's narrative was again interrupted. An echo behind them -seemed to repeat the word after her. - -"Erik!" - -What echo? ... They both turned round and saw that night had fallen. -Raoul made a movement as though to rise, but Christine kept him beside -her. - -"Don't go," she said. "I want you to know everything HERE!" - -"But why here, Christine? I am afraid of your catching cold." - -"We have nothing to fear except the trap-doors, dear, and here we are -miles away from the trap-doors ... and I am not allowed to see you -outside the theater. This is not the time to annoy him. We must not -arouse his suspicion." - -"Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong to wait -till to-morrow evening and that we ought to fly at once." - -"I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will cause -him infinite pain." - -"It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him for -good." - -"You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight." -And she added in a dull voice, "But then it counts both ways ... for -we risk his killing us." - -"Does he love you so much?" - -"He would commit murder for me." - -"But one can find out where he lives. One can go in search of him. -Now that we know that Erik is not a ghost, one can speak to him and -force him to answer!" - -Christine shook her head. - -"No, no! There is nothing to be done with Erik except to run away!" - -"Then why, when you were able to run away, did you go back to him?" - -"Because I had to. And you will understand that when I tell you how I -left him." - -"Oh, I hate him!" cried Raoul. "And you, Christine, tell me, do you -hate him too?" - -"No," said Christine simply. - -"No, of course not ... Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, all -of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind -which people do not admit even to themselves," said Raoul bitterly. -"The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it... Picture it: -a man who lives in a palace underground!" And he gave a leer. - -"Then you want me to go back there?" said the young girl cruelly. -"Take care, Raoul; I have told you: I should never return!" - -There was an appalling silence between the three of them: the two who -spoke and the shadow that listened, behind them. - -"Before answering that," said Raoul, at last, speaking very slowly, "I -should like to know with what feeling he inspires you, since you do not -hate him." - -"With horror!" she said. "That is the terrible thing about it. He -fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I hate him, Raoul? -Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on the lake, underground. He -accuses himself, he curses himself, he implores my forgiveness! ... He -confesses his cheat. He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and -tragic love... He has carried me off for love! ... He has imprisoned -me with him, underground, for love! ... But he respects me: he crawls, -he moans, he weeps! ... And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told him that -I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, give me my -liberty ... he offered it ... he offered to show me the mysterious road -... Only ... only he rose too ... and I was made to remember that, -though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, nor a genius, he remained the -voice ... for he sang. And I listened ... and stayed! ... That night, -we did not exchange another word. He sang me to sleep. - -"When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished -little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp -standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. -I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from -my room led to a very comfortable bath-room. On returning to the -bedroom, I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, -'My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. You have -no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. You are -alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going out -shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.' I felt sure -that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. I ran round my little -apartment, looking for a way of escape which I could not find. I -upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, which had caused me to -fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh and to cry at the same -time. - -"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving three -taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I had not -noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full of boxes and -parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely fashion, while I -overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon him to take off his mask, if -it covered the face of an honest man. He replied serenely, 'You shall -never see Erik's face.' And he reproached me with not having finished -dressing at that time of day: he was good enough to tell me that it was -two o'clock in the afternoon. He said he would give me half an hour -and, while he spoke, wound up my watch and set it for me. After which, -he asked me to come to the dining-room, where a nice lunch was waiting -for us. - -"I was very angry, slammed the door in his face and went to the -bath-room ... When I came out again, feeling greatly refreshed, Erik -said that he loved me, but that he would never tell me so except when I -allowed him and that the rest of the time would be devoted to music. -'What do you mean by the rest of the time?' I asked. 'Five days,' he -said, with decision. I asked him if I should then be free and he said, -'You will be free, Christine, for, when those five days are past, you -will have learned not to see me; and then, from time to time, you will -come to see your poor Erik!' He pointed to a chair opposite him, at a -small table, and I sat down, feeling greatly perturbed. However, I ate -a few prawns and the wing of a chicken and drank half a glass of tokay, -which he had himself, he told me, brought from the Konigsberg cellars. -Erik did not eat or drink. I asked him what his nationality was and if -that name of Erik did not point to his Scandinavian origin. He said -that he had no name and no country and that he had taken the name of -Erik by accident. - -"After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, saying he -would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away my hand and -gave a cry. What I had touched was cold and, at the same time, bony; -and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. 'Oh, forgive me!' he -moaned. And he opened a door before me. 'This is my bedroom, if you -care to see it. It is rather curious.' His manners, his words, his -attitude gave me confidence and I went in without hesitation. I felt -as if I were entering the room of a dead person. The walls were all -hung with black, but, instead of the white trimmings that usually set -off that funereal upholstery, there was an enormous stave of music with -the notes of the DIES IRAE, many times repeated. In the middle of the -room was a canopy, from which hung curtains of red brocaded stuff, and, -under the canopy, an open coffin. 'That is where I sleep,' said Erik. -'One has to get used to everything in life, even to eternity.' The -sight upset me so much that I turned away my head. - -"Then I saw the keyboard of an organ which filled one whole side of the -walls. On the desk was a music-book covered with red notes. I asked -leave to look at it and read, 'Don Juan Triumphant.' 'Yes,' he said, 'I -compose sometimes.' I began that work twenty years ago. When I have -finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin and never wake up -again.' 'You must work at it as seldom as you can,' I said. He -replied, 'I sometimes work at it for fourteen days and nights together, -during which I live on music only, and then I rest for years at a -time.' 'Will you play me something out of your Don Juan Triumphant?' I -asked, thinking to please him. 'You must never ask me that,' he said, -in a gloomy voice. 'I will play you Mozart, if you like, which will -only make you weep; but my Don Juan, Christine, burns; and yet he is -not struck by fire from Heaven.' Thereupon we returned to the -drawing-room. I noticed that there was no mirror in the whole -apartment. I was going to remark upon this, but Erik had already sat -down to the piano. He said, 'You see, Christine, there is some music -that is so terrible that it consumes all those who approach it. -Fortunately, you have not come to that music yet, for you would lose -all your pretty coloring and nobody would know you when you returned to -Paris. Let us sing something from the Opera, Christine Daae.' He spoke -these last words as though he were flinging an insult at me." - -"What did you do?" - -"I had no time to think about the meaning he put into his words. We at -once began the duet in Othello and already the catastrophe was upon us. -I sang Desdemona with a despair, a terror which I had never displayed -before. As for him, his voice thundered forth his revengeful soul at -every note. Love, jealousy, hatred, burst out around us in harrowing -cries. Erik's black mask made me think of the natural mask of the Moor -of Venice. He was Othello himself. Suddenly, I felt a need to see -beneath the mask. I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a -movement which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore -away the mask. Oh, horror, horror, horror!" - -Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, -while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, now -thrice moaned the cry: - -"Horror! ... Horror! ... Horror!" - -Raoul and Christine, clasping each other closely, raised their eyes to -the stars that shone in a clear and peaceful sky. Raoul said: - -"Strange, Christine, that this calm, soft night should be so full of -plaintive sounds. One would think that it was sorrowing with us." - -"When you know the secret, Raoul, your ears, like mine, will be full of -lamentations." - -She took Raoul's protecting hands in hers and, with a long shiver, -continued: - -"Yes, if I lived to be a hundred, I should always hear the superhuman -cry of grief and rage which he uttered when the terrible sight appeared -before my eyes ... Raoul, you have seen death's heads, when they have -been dried and withered by the centuries, and, perhaps, if you were not -the victim of a nightmare, you saw HIS death's head at Perros. And -then you saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. But all -those death's heads were motionless and their dumb horror was not -alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death's mask suddenly coming to -life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, its -nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; AND -NOT A RAY OF LIGHT FROM THE SOCKETS, for, as I learned later, you can -not see his blazing eyes except in the dark. - -"I fell back against the wall and he came up to me, grinding his teeth, -and, as I fell upon my knees, he hissed mad, incoherent words and -curses at me. Leaning over me, he cried, 'Look! You want to see! See! -Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik's -face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to -hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like! Oh, you women are -so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I'm a very good-looking -fellow, eh? ... When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to -me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!' And, -drawing himself up to his full height, with his hand on his hip, -wagging the hideous thing that was his head on his shoulders, he -roared, 'Look at me! I AM DON JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned -away my head and begged for mercy, he drew it to him, brutally, -twisting his dead fingers into my hair." - -"Enough! Enough!" cried Raoul. "I will kill him. In Heaven's name, -Christine, tell me where the dining-room on the lake is! I must kill -him!" - -"Oh, be quiet, Raoul, if you want to know!" - -"Yes, I want to know how and why you went back; I must know! ... But, -in any case, I will kill him!" - -"Oh, Raoul, listen, listen! ... He dragged me by my hair and then ... -and then ... Oh, it is too horrible!" - -"Well, what? Out with it!" exclaimed Raoul fiercely. "Out with it, -quick!" - -"Then he hissed at me. 'Ah, I frighten you, do I? ... I dare say! ... -Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that this ... this -... my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, 'tear it off as you did the -other! Come! Come along! I insist! Your hands! Your hands! Give -me your hands!' And he seized my hands and dug them into his awful -face. He tore his flesh with my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh -with my nails! ... 'Know,' he shouted, while his throat throbbed and -panted like a furnace, 'know that I am built up of death from head to -foot and that it is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will -never, never leave you! ... Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, -crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore -can never leave me again! ... As long as you thought me handsome, you -could have come back, I know you would have come back ... but, now that -you know my hideousness, you would run away for good... So I shall keep -you here! ... Why did you want to see me? Oh, mad Christine, who -wanted to see me! ... When my own father never saw me and when my -mother, so as not to see me, made me a present of my first mask!' - -"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the -floor, uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, -went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my -reflections. Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I -began to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about -Opera music. What I now heard was utterly different from what I had -heard up to then. His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but -that he had rushed to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the -moment) seemed to me at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, -little by little, it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which -mankind is capable. It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that -separated us. Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY -DIRECTION. 'Erik,' I cried, 'show me your face without fear! I swear -that you are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I -shiver when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the -splendor of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, -and I also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love -... with words of love in his dead mouth ... and the music had ceased -... He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my -eyes. - -"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy. It went on -for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him. My lies were -as hideous as the monster who inspired them; but they were the price of -my liberty. I burned his mask; and I managed so well that, even when -he was not singing, he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its -master. He was my faithful slave and paid me endless little -attentions. Gradually, I gave him such confidence that he ventured to -take me walking on the banks of the lake and to row me in the boat on -its leaden waters; toward the end of my captivity he let me out through -the gates that closed the underground passages in the Rue Scribe. Here -a carriage awaited us and took us to the Bois. The night when we met -you was nearly fatal to me, for he is terribly jealous of you and I had -to tell him that you were soon going away ... Then, at last, after a -fortnight of that horrible captivity, during which I was filled with -pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, he believed me when I -said, 'I WILL COME BACK!'" - -"And you went back, Christine," groaned Raoul. - -"Yes, dear, and I must tell you that it was not his frightful threats -when setting me free that helped me to keep my word, but the harrowing -sob which he gave on the threshold of the tomb. ... That sob attached -me to the unfortunate man more than I myself suspected when saying -good-by to him. Poor Erik! Poor Erik!" - -"Christine," said Raoul, rising, "you tell me that you love me; but you -had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you returned to -Erik! Remember the masked ball!" - -"Yes; and do you remember those hours which I passed with you, Raoul -... to the great danger of both of us?" - -"I doubted your love for me, during those hours." - -"Do you doubt it still, Raoul? ... Then know that each of my visits to -Erik increased my horror of him; for each of those visits, instead of -calming him, as I hoped, made him mad with love! And I am so -frightened, so frightened! ..." - -"You are frightened ... but do you love me? If Erik were good-looking, -would you love me, Christine?" - -She rose in her turn, put her two trembling arms round the young man's -neck and said: - -"Oh, my betrothed of a day, if I did not love you, I would not give you -my lips! Take them, for the first time and the last." - -He kissed her lips; but the night that surrounded them was rent -asunder, they fled as at the approach of a storm and their eyes, filled -with dread of Erik, showed them, before they disappeared, high up above -them, an immense night-bird that stared at them with its blazing eyes -and seemed to cling to the string of Apollo's lyre. - - - -Chapter XIII A Master-Stroke of the Trap-Door Lover - - -Raoul and Christine ran, eager to escape from the roof and the blazing -eyes that showed only in the dark; and they did not stop before they -came to the eighth floor on the way down. - -There was no performance at the Opera that night and the passages were -empty. Suddenly, a queer-looking form stood before them and blocked -the road: - -"No, not this way!" - -And the form pointed to another passage by which they were to reach the -wings. Raoul wanted to stop and ask for an explanation. But the form, -which wore a sort of long frock-coat and a pointed cap, said: - -"Quick! Go away quickly!" - -Christine was already dragging Raoul, compelling him to start running -again. - -"But who is he? Who is that man?" he asked. - -Christine replied: "It's the Persian." - -"What's he doing here?" - -"Nobody knows. He is always in the Opera." - -"You are making me run away, for the first time in my life. If we -really saw Erik, what I ought to have done was to nail him to Apollo's -lyre, just as we nail the owls to the walls of our Breton farms; and -there would have been no more question of him." - -"My dear Raoul, you would first have had to climb up to Apollo's lyre: -that is no easy matter." - -"The blazing eyes were there!" - -"Oh, you are getting like me now, seeing him everywhere! What I took -for blazing eyes was probably a couple of stars shining through the -strings of the lyre." - -And Christine went down another floor, with Raoul following her. - -"As you have quite made up your mind to go, Christine, I assure you it -would be better to go at once. Why wait for to-morrow? He may have -heard us to-night." - -"No, no, he is working, I tell you, at his Don Juan Triumphant and not -thinking of us." - -"You're so sure of that you keep on looking behind you!" - -"Come to my dressing-room." - -"Hadn't we better meet outside the Opera?" - -"Never, till we go away for good! It would bring us bad luck, if I did -not keep my word. I promised him to see you only here." - -"It's a good thing for me that he allowed you even that. Do you know," -said Raoul bitterly, "that it was very plucky of you to let us play at -being engaged?" - -"Why, my dear, he knows all about it! He said, 'I trust you, -Christine. M. de Chagny is in love with you and is going abroad. -Before he goes, I want him to be as happy as I am.' Are people so -unhappy when they love?" - -"Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved." - -They came to Christine's dressing-room. - -"Why do you think that you are safer in this room than on the stage?" -asked Raoul. "You heard him through the walls here, therefore he can -certainly hear us." - -"No. He gave me his word not to be behind the walls of my dressing-room -again and I believe Erik's word. This room and my bedroom on the lake -are for me, exclusively, and not to be approached by him." - -"How can you have gone from this room into that dark passage, -Christine? Suppose we try to repeat your movements; shall we?" - -"It is dangerous, dear, for the glass might carry me off again; and, -instead of running away, I should be obliged to go to the end of the -secret passage to the lake and there call Erik." - -"Would he hear you?" - -"Erik will hear me wherever I call him. He told me so. He is a very -curious genius. You must not think, Raoul, that he is simply a man who -amuses himself by living underground. He does things that no other man -could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows." - -"Take care, Christine, you are making a ghost of him again!" - -"No, he is not a ghost; he is a man of Heaven and earth, that is all." - -"A man of Heaven and earth ... that is all! ... A nice way to speak of -him! ... And are you still resolved to run away from him?" - -"Yes, to-morrow." - -"To-morrow, you will have no resolve left!" - -"Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself; is that -understood?" - -"I shall be here at twelve to-morrow night; I shall keep my promise, -whatever happens. You say that, after listening to the performance, he -is to wait for you in the dining-room on the lake?" - -"Yes." - -"And how are you to reach him, if you don't know how to go out by the -glass?" - -"Why, by going straight to the edge of the lake." - -Christine opened a box, took out an enormous key and showed it to Raoul. - -"What's that?" he asked. - -"The key of the gate to the underground passage in the Rue Scribe." - -"I understand, Christine. It leads straight to the lake. Give it to -me, Christine, will you?" - -"Never!" she said. "That would be treacherous!" - -Suddenly Christine changed color. A mortal pallor overspread her -features. - -"Oh heavens!" she cried. "Erik! Erik! Have pity on me!" - -"Hold your tongue!" said Raoul. "You told me he could hear you!" - -But the singer's attitude became more and more inexplicable. She wrung -her fingers, repeating, with a distraught air: - -"Oh, Heaven! Oh, Heaven!" - -"But what is it? What is it?" Raoul implored. - -"The ring ... the gold ring he gave me." - -"Oh, so Erik gave you that ring!" - -"You know he did, Raoul! But what you don't know is that, when he gave -it to me, he said, 'I give you back your liberty, Christine, on -condition that this ring is always on your finger. As long as you keep -it, you will be protected against all danger and Erik will remain your -friend. But woe to you if you ever part with it, for Erik will have -his revenge!' ... My dear, my dear, the ring is gone! ... Woe to us -both!" - -They both looked for the ring, but could not find it. Christine -refused to be pacified. - -"It was while I gave you that kiss, up above, under Apollo's lyre," she -said. "The ring must have slipped from my finger and dropped into the -street! We can never find it. And what misfortunes are in store for -us now! Oh, to run away!" - -"Let us run away at once," Raoul insisted, once more. - -She hesitated. He thought that she was going to say yes... Then her -bright pupils became dimmed and she said: - -"No! To-morrow!" - -And she left him hurriedly, still wringing and rubbing her fingers, as -though she hoped to bring the ring back like that. - -Raoul went home, greatly perturbed at all that he had heard. - -[Illustration: They Sat Like that for a Moment in Silence] - -"If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug," he said, aloud, as -he went to bed, "she is lost. But I shall save her." - -He put out his lamp and felt a need to insult Erik in the dark. Thrice -over, he shouted: - -"Humbug! ... Humbug! ... Humbug!" - -But, suddenly, he raised himself on his elbow. A cold sweat poured -from his temples. Two eyes, like blazing coals, had appeared at the -foot of his bed. They stared at him fixedly, terribly, in the darkness -of the night. - -Raoul was no coward; and yet he trembled. He put out a groping, -hesitating hand toward the table by his bedside. He found the matches -and lit his candle. The eyes disappeared. - -Still uneasy in his mind, he thought to himself: - -"She told me that HIS eyes only showed in the dark. His eyes have -disappeared in the light, but HE may be there still." - -And he rose, hunted about, went round the room. He looked under his -bed, like a child. Then he thought himself absurd, got into bed again -and blew out the candle. The eyes reappeared. - -He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed. -Then he cried: - -"Is that you, Erik? Man, genius, or ghost, is it you?" - -He reflected: "If it's he, he's on the balcony!" - -Then he ran to the chest of drawers and groped for his revolver. He -opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and closed the -window again. He went back to bed, shivering, for the night was cold, -and put the revolver on the table within his reach. - -The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed. Were they between -the bed and the window-pane or behind the pane, that is to say, on the -balcony? That was what Raoul wanted to know. He also wanted to know -if those eyes belonged to a human being... He wanted to know -everything. Then, patiently, calmly, he seized his revolver and took -aim. He aimed a little above the two eyes. Surely, if they were eyes -and if above those two eyes there was a forehead and if Raoul was not -too clumsy ... - -The shot made a terrible din amid the silence of the slumbering house. -And, while footsteps came hurrying along the passages, Raoul sat up -with outstretched arm, ready to fire again, if need be. - -This time, the two eyes had disappeared. - -Servants appeared, carrying lights; Count Philippe, terribly anxious: - -"What is it?" - -"I think I have been dreaming," replied the young man. "I fired at two -stars that kept me from sleeping." - -"You're raving! Are you ill? For God's sake, tell me, Raoul: what -happened?" - -And the count seized hold of the revolver. - -"No, no, I'm not raving... Besides, we shall soon see ..." - -He got out of bed, put on a dressing-gown and slippers, took a light -from the hands of a servant and, opening the window, stepped out on the -balcony. - -The count saw that the window had been pierced by a bullet at a man's -height. Raoul was leaning over the balcony with his candle: "Aha!" he -said. "Blood! ... Blood! ... Here, there, more blood! ... That's a -good thing! A ghost who bleeds is less dangerous!" he grinned. - -"Raoul! Raoul! Raoul!" - -The count was shaking him as though he were trying to waken a -sleep-walker. - -"But, my dear brother, I'm not asleep!" Raoul protested impatiently. -"You can see the blood for yourself. I thought I had been dreaming and -firing at two stars. It was Erik's eyes ... and here is his blood! ... -After all, perhaps I was wrong to shoot; and Christine is quite capable -of never forgiving me ... All this would not have happened if I had -drawn the curtains before going to bed." - -"Raoul, have you suddenly gone mad? Wake up!" - -"What, still? You would do better to help me find Erik ... for, after -all, a ghost who bleeds can always be found." - -The count's valet said: - -"That is so, sir; there is blood on the balcony." - -The other man-servant brought a lamp, by the light of which they -examined the balcony carefully. The marks of blood followed the rail -till they reached a gutter-spout; then they went up the gutter-spout. - -"My dear fellow," said Count Philippe, "you have fired at a cat." - -"The misfortune is," said Raoul, with a grin, "that it's quite -possible. With Erik, you never know. Is it Erik? Is it the cat? Is -it the ghost? No, with Erik, you can't tell!" - -Raoul went on making this strange sort of remarks which corresponded so -intimately and logically with the preoccupation of his brain and which, -at the same time, tended to persuade many people that his mind was -unhinged. The count himself was seized with this idea; and, later, the -examining magistrate, on receiving the report of the commissary of -police, came to the same conclusion. - -"Who is Erik?" asked the count, pressing his brother's hand. - -"He is my rival. And, if he's not dead, it's a pity." - -He dismissed the servants with a wave of the hand and the two Chagnys -were left alone. But the men were not out of earshot before the -count's valet heard Raoul say, distinctly and emphatically: - -"I shall carry off Christine Daae to-night." - -This phrase was afterward repeated to M. Faure, the -examining-magistrate. But no one ever knew exactly what passed between -the two brothers at this interview. The servants declared that this -was not their first quarrel. Their voices penetrated the wall; and it -was always an actress called Christine Daae that was in question. - -At breakfast--the early morning breakfast, which the count took in his -study--Philippe sent for his brother. Raoul arrived silent and gloomy. -The scene was a very short one. Philippe handed his brother a copy of -the Epoque and said: - -"Read that!" - -The viscount read: - -"The latest news in the Faubourg is that there is a promise of marriage -between Mlle. Christine Daae, the opera-singer, and M. le Vicomte Raoul -de Chagny. If the gossips are to be credited, Count Philippe has sworn -that, for the first time on record, the Chagnys shall not keep their -promise. But, as love is all-powerful, at the Opera as--and even more -than--elsewhere, we wonder how Count Philippe intends to prevent the -viscount, his brother, from leading the new Margarita to the altar. -The two brothers are said to adore each other; but the count is -curiously mistaken if he imagines that brotherly love will triumph over -love pure and simple." - -"You see, Raoul," said the count, "you are making us ridiculous! That -little girl has turned your head with her ghost-stories." - -The viscount had evidently repeated Christine's narrative to his -brother, during the night. All that he now said was: - -"Good-by, Philippe." - -"Have you quite made up your mind? You are going to-night? With her?" - -No reply. - -"Surely you will not do anything so foolish? I SHALL know how to -prevent you!" - -"Good-by, Philippe," said the viscount again and left the room. - -This scene was described to the examining-magistrate by the count -himself, who did not see Raoul again until that evening, at the Opera, -a few minutes before Christine's disappearance. - -Raoul, in fact, devoted the whole day to his preparations for the -flight. The horses, the carriage, the coachman, the provisions, the -luggage, the money required for the journey, the road to be taken (he -had resolved not to go by train, so as to throw the ghost off the -scent): all this had to be settled and provided for; and it occupied -him until nine o'clock at night. - -At nine o'clock, a sort of traveling-barouche with the curtains of its -windows close-down, took its place in the rank on the Rotunda side. It -was drawn by two powerful horses driven by a coachman whose face was -almost concealed in the long folds of a muffler. In front of this -traveling-carriage were three broughams, belonging respectively to -Carlotta, who had suddenly returned to Paris, to Sorelli and, at the -head of the rank, to Comte Philippe de Chagny. No one left the -barouche. The coachman remained on his box, and the three other -coachmen remained on theirs. - -A shadow in a long black cloak and a soft black felt hat passed along -the pavement between the Rotunda and the carriages, examined the -barouche carefully, went up to the horses and the coachman and then -moved away without saying a word, The magistrate afterward believed -that this shadow was that of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny; but I do not -agree, seeing that that evening, as every evening, the Vicomte de -Chagny was wearing a tall hat, which hat, besides, was subsequently -found. I am more inclined to think that the shadow was that of the -ghost, who knew all about the whole affair, as the reader will soon -perceive. - -They were giving FAUST, as it happened, before a splendid house. The -Faubourg was magnificently represented; and the paragraph in that -morning's EPOQUE had already produced its effect, for all eyes were -turned to the box in which Count Philippe sat alone, apparently in a -very indifferent and careless frame of mind. The feminine element in -the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled; and the viscount's -absence gave rise to any amount of whispering behind the fans. -Christine Daae met with a rather cold reception. That special audience -could not forgive her for aiming so high. - -The singer noticed this unfavorable attitude of a portion of the house -and was confused by it. - -The regular frequenters of the Opera, who pretended to know the truth -about the viscount's love-story, exchanged significant smiles at -certain passages in Margarita's part; and they made a show of turning -and looking at Philippe de Chagny's box when Christine sang: - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is." - -The count sat with his chin on his hand and seemed to pay no attention -to these manifestations. He kept his eyes fixed on the stage; but his -thoughts appeared to be far away. - -Christine lost her self-assurance more and more. She trembled. She -felt on the verge of a breakdown ... Carolus Fonta wondered if she was -ill, if she could keep the stage until the end of the Garden Act. In -the front of the house, people remembered the catastrophe that had -befallen Carlotta at the end of that act and the historic "co-ack" -which had momentarily interrupted her career in Paris. - -Just then, Carlotta made her entrance in a box facing the stage, a -sensational entrance. Poor Christine raised her eyes upon this fresh -subject of excitement. She recognized her rival. She thought she saw -a sneer on her lips. That saved her. She forgot everything, in order -to triumph once more. - -From that moment the prima donna sang with all her heart and soul. She -tried to surpass all that she had done till then; and she succeeded. -In the last act when she began the invocation to the angels, she made -all the members of the audience feel as though they too had wings. - -In the center of the amphitheater a man stood up and remained standing, -facing the singer. It was Raoul. - -"Holy angel, in Heaven blessed ..." - -And Christine, her arms outstretched, her throat filled with music, the -glory of her hair falling over her bare shoulders, uttered the divine -cry: - -"My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -It was at that moment that the stage was suddenly plunged in darkness. -It happened so quickly that the spectators hardly had time to utter a -sound of stupefaction, for the gas at once lit up the stage again. But -Christine Daae was no longer there! - -What had become of her? What was that miracle? All exchanged glances -without understanding, and the excitement at once reached its height. -Nor was the tension any less great on the stage itself. Men rushed -from the wings to the spot where Christine had been singing that very -instant. The performance was interrupted amid the greatest disorder. - -Where had Christine gone? What witchcraft had snatched her, away -before the eyes of thousands of enthusiastic onlookers and from the -arms of Carolus Fonta himself? It was as though the angels had really -carried her up "to rest." - -Raoul, still standing up in the amphitheater, had uttered a cry. Count -Philippe had sprung to his feet in his box. People looked at the -stage, at the count, at Raoul, and wondered if this curious event was -connected in any way with the paragraph in that morning's paper. But -Raoul hurriedly left his seat, the count disappeared from his box and, -while the curtain was lowered, the subscribers rushed to the door that -led behind the scenes. The rest of the audience waited amid an -indescribable hubbub. Every one spoke at once. Every one tried to -suggest an explanation of the extraordinary incident. - -At last, the curtain rose slowly and Carolus Fonta stepped to the -conductor's desk and, in a sad and serious voice, said: - -"Ladies and gentlemen, an unprecedented event has taken place and -thrown us into a state of the greatest alarm. Our sister-artist, -Christine Daae, has disappeared before our eyes and nobody can tell us -how!" - - - -Chapter XIV The Singular Attitude of a Safety-Pin - - -Behind the curtain, there was an indescribable crowd. Artists, -scene-shifters, dancers, supers, choristers, subscribers were all -asking questions, shouting and hustling one another. - -"What became of her?" - -"She's run away." - -"With the Vicomte de Chagny, of course!" - -"No, with the count!" - -"Ah, here's Carlotta! Carlotta did the trick!" - -"No, it was the ghost!" And a few laughed, especially as a careful -examination of the trap-doors and boards had put the idea of an -accident out of the question. - -Amid this noisy throng, three men stood talking in a low voice and with -despairing gestures. They were Gabriel, the chorus-master; Mercier, -the acting-manager; and Remy, the secretary. They retired to a corner -of the lobby by which the stage communicates with the wide passage -leading to the foyer of the ballet. Here they stood and argued behind -some enormous "properties." - -"I knocked at the door," said Remy. "They did not answer. Perhaps -they are not in the office. In any case, it's impossible to find out, -for they took the keys with them." - -"They" were obviously the managers, who had given orders, during the -last entr'acte, that they were not to be disturbed on any pretext -whatever. They were not in to anybody. - -"All the same," exclaimed Gabriel, "a singer isn't run away with, from -the middle of the stage, every day!" - -"Did you shout that to them?" asked Mercier, impatiently. - -"I'll go back again," said Remy, and disappeared at a run. - -Thereupon the stage-manager arrived. - -"Well, M. Mercier, are you coming? What are you two doing here? -You're wanted, Mr. Acting-Manager." - -"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives," -declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when he -comes!" - -"And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." - -"Not before the commissary comes." - -"I've been down to the organ myself already." - -"Ah! And what did you see?" - -"Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear--nobody!" - -"What do you want me to do down there for{sic}?" - -"You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his hands -through his rebellious hair. "You're right! But there might be some -one at the organ who could tell us how the stage came to be suddenly -darkened. Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found. Do you understand -that?" - -Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on the -stage of the Opera. - -"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback. "Well, -what about his assistants?" - -"There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, I tell -you! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that little -girl must have been carried off by somebody else: she didn't run away -by herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find out about -it ... And what are the managers doing all this time? ... I gave -orders that no one was to go down to the lights and I posted a fireman -in front of the gas-man's box beside the organ. Wasn't that right?" - -"Yes, yes, quite right, quite right. And now let's wait for the -commissary." - -The stage-manager walked away, shrugging his shoulders, fuming, -muttering insults at those milksops who remained quietly squatting in a -corner while the whole theater was topsyturvy{sic}. - -Gabriel and Mercier were not so quiet as all that. Only they had -received an order that paralyzed them. The managers were not to be -disturbed on any account. Remy had violated that order and met with no -success. - -At that moment he returned from his new expedition, wearing a curiously -startled air. - -"Well, have you seen them?" asked Mercier. - -"Moncharmin opened the door at last. His eyes were starting out of his -head. I thought he meant to strike me. I could not get a word in; and -what do you think he shouted at me? 'Have you a safety-pin?' 'No!' -'Well, then, clear out!' I tried to tell him that an unheard-of thing -had happened on the stage, but he roared, 'A safety-pin! Give me a -safety-pin at once!' A boy heard him--he was bellowing like a -bull--ran up with a safety-pin and gave it to him; whereupon Moncharmin -slammed the door in my face, and there you are!" - -"And couldn't you have said, 'Christine Daae.'" - -"I should like to have seen you in my place. He was foaming at the -mouth. He thought of nothing but his safety-pin. I believe, if they -hadn't brought him one on the spot, he would have fallen down in a fit! -... Oh, all this isn't natural; and our managers are going mad! ... -Besides, it can't go on like this! I'm not used to being treated in -that fashion!" - -Suddenly Gabriel whispered: - -"It's another trick of O. G.'s." - -Rimy gave a grin, Mercier a sigh and seemed about to speak ... but, -meeting Gabriel's eye, said nothing. - -However, Mercier felt his responsibility increased as the minutes -passed without the managers' appearing; and, at last, he could stand it -no longer. - -"Look here, I'll go and hunt them out myself!" - -Gabriel, turning very gloomy and serious, stopped him. - -"Be careful what you're doing, Mercier! If they're staying in their -office, it's probably because they have to! O. G. has more than one -trick in his bag!" - -But Mercier shook his head. - -"That's their lookout! I'm going! If people had listened to me, the -police would have known everything long ago!" - -And he went. - -"What's everything?" asked Remy. "What was there to tell the police? -Why don't you answer, Gabriel? ... Ah, so you know something! Well, -you would do better to tell me, too, if you don't want me to shout out -that you are all going mad! ... Yes, that's what you are: mad!" - -Gabriel put on a stupid look and pretended not to understand the -private secretary's unseemly outburst. - -"What 'something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know what -you mean." - -Remy began to lose his temper. - -"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics, -here, between the acts." - -"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed. - -"Then you're the only one! ... Do you think that I didn't see them? ... -And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, noticed -nothing? ... And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, has no eyes to -see with? ... Why, all the subscribers were pointing at our managers!" - -"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his most -innocent air. - -"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they were -doing! ... You were there! ... And you were watching them, you and -Mercier! ... And you were the only two who didn't laugh." - -"I don't understand!" - -Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, which -gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest him in -the least. Remy continued: - -"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY HAVE -ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM NOW?" - -"What? WON'T THEY HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?" - -"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!" - -"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM? -That is certainly odd!" - -"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK -BACKWARD!" - -"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought -that only crabs walked backward!" - -"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!" - -"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge. - -"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend of -the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer, -during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did M. -Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, 'Go away! Go away! Whatever you -do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have an infectious -disease?" - -"It's incredible!" - -"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard, -didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear him -exclaim, 'M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch M. le Directeur'?" - -"It's terrible! ... And what was Richard doing meanwhile?" - -"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, BOWED IN FRONT -OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, AND WITHDREW BACKWARD." - -"BACKWARD?" - -"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, he -described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED BACKWARD! ... And -they went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading to the managers' office: -BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! ... Well, if they are not mad, will you -explain what it means?" - -"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggested -Gabriel, without much conviction in his voice. - -The secretary was furious at this wretched joke, made at so dramatic a -moment. He knit his brows and contracted his lips. Then he put his -mouth to Gabriel's ear: - -"Don't be so sly, Gabriel. There are things going on for which you and -Mercier are partly responsible." - -"What do you mean?" asked Gabriel. - -"Christine Daae is not the only one who suddenly disappeared to-night." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"There's no nonsense about it. Perhaps you can tell me why, when -Mother Giry came down to the foyer just now, Mercier took her by the -hand and hurried her away with him?" - -"Really?" said Gabriel, "I never saw it." - -"You did see it, Gabriel, for you went with Mercier and Mother Giry to -Mercier's office. Since then, you and Mercier have been seen, but no -one has seen Mother Giry." - -"Do you think we've eaten her?" - -"No, but you've locked her up in the office; and any one passing the -office can hear her yelling, 'Oh, the scoundrels! Oh, the scoundrels!'" - -At this point of this singular conversation, Mercier arrived, all out -of breath. - -"There!" he said, in a gloomy voice. "It's worse than ever! ... I -shouted, 'It's a serious matter! Open the door! It's I, Mercier.' I -heard footsteps. The door opened and Moncharmin appeared. He was very -pale. He said, 'What do you want?' I answered, 'Some one has run away -with Christine Daae.' What do you think he said? 'And a good job, -too!' And he shut the door, after putting this in my hand." - -Mercier opened his hand; Remy and Gabriel looked. - -"The safety-pin!" cried Remy. - -"Strange! Strange!" muttered Gabriel, who could not help shivering. - -Suddenly a voice made them all three turn round. - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine Daae -is?" - -In spite of the seriousness of the circumstances, the absurdity of the -question would have made them roar with laughter, if they had not -caught sight of a face so sorrow-stricken that they were at once seized -with pity. It was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. - - - -Chapter XV Christine! Christine! - - -Raoul's first thought, after Christine Daae's fantastic disappearance, -was to accuse Erik. He no longer doubted the almost supernatural -powers of the Angel of Music, in this domain of the Opera in which he -had set up his empire. And Raoul rushed on the stage, in a mad fit of -love and despair. - -"Christine! Christine!" he moaned, calling to her as he felt that she -must be calling to him from the depths of that dark pit to which the -monster had carried her. "Christine! Christine!" - -And he seemed to hear the girl's screams through the frail boards that -separated him from her. He bent forward, he listened, ... he wandered -over the stage like a madman. Ah, to descend, to descend into that pit -of darkness every entrance to which was closed to him, ... for the -stairs that led below the stage were forbidden to one and all that -night! - -"Christine! Christine! ..." - -People pushed him aside, laughing. They made fun of him. They thought -the poor lover's brain was gone! - -By what mad road, through what passages of mystery and darkness known -to him alone had Erik dragged that pure-souled child to the awful -haunt, with the Louis-Philippe room, opening out on the lake? - -"Christine! Christine! ... Why don't you answer? ... Are you alive? -..." - -Hideous thoughts flashed through Raoul's congested brain. Of course, -Erik must have discovered their secret, must have known that Christine -had played him false. What a vengeance would be his! - -And Raoul thought again of the yellow stars that had come, the night -before, and roamed over his balcony. Why had he not put them out for -good? There were some men's eyes that dilated in the darkness and -shone like stars or like cats' eyes. Certainly Albinos, who seemed to -have rabbits' eyes by day, had cats' eyes at night: everybody knew -that! ... Yes, yes, he had undoubtedly fired at Erik. Why had he not -killed him? The monster had fled up the gutter-spout like a cat or a -convict who--everybody knew that also--would scale the very skies, with -the help of a gutter-spout ... No doubt Erik was at that time -contemplating some decisive step against Raoul, but he had been wounded -and had escaped to turn against poor Christine instead. - -Such were the cruel thoughts that haunted Raoul as he ran to the -singer's dressing-room. - -"Christine! Christine!" - -Bitter tears scorched the boy's eyelids as he saw scattered over the -furniture the clothes which his beautiful bride was to have worn at the -hour of their flight. Oh, why had she refused to leave earlier? - -Why had she toyed with the threatening catastrophe? Why toyed with the -monster's heart? Why, in a final access of pity, had she insisted on -flinging, as a last sop to that demon's soul, her divine song: - - "Holy angel, in Heaven blessed, - My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -Raoul, his throat filled with sobs, oaths and insults, fumbled -awkwardly at the great mirror that had opened one night, before his -eyes, to let Christine pass to the murky dwelling below. He pushed, -pressed, groped about, but the glass apparently obeyed no one but Erik -... Perhaps actions were not enough with a glass of the kind? Perhaps -he was expected to utter certain words? When he was a little boy, he -had heard that there were things that obeyed the spoken word! - -Suddenly, Raoul remembered something about a gate opening into the Rue -Scribe, an underground passage running straight to the Rue Scribe from -the lake ... Yes, Christine had told him about that... And, when he -found that the key was no longer in the box, he nevertheless ran to the -Rue Scribe. Outside, in the street, he passed his trembling hands over -the huge stones, felt for outlets ... met with iron bars ... were those -they? ... Or these? ... Or could it be that air-hole? ... He plunged -his useless eyes through the bars ... How dark it was in there! ... He -listened ... All was silence! ... He went round the building ... and -came to bigger bars, immense gates! ... It was the entrance to the Cour -de l'Administration. - -Raoul rushed into the doorkeeper's lodge. - -"I beg your pardon, madame, could you tell me where to find a gate or -door, made of bars, iron bars, opening into the Rue Scribe ... and -leading to the lake? ... You know the lake I mean? ... Yes, the -underground lake ... under the Opera." - -"Yes, sir, I know there is a lake under the Opera, but I don't know -which door leads to it. I have never been there!" - -"And the Rue Scribe, madame, the Rue Scribe? Have you never been to -the Rue Scribe?" - -The woman laughed, screamed with laughter! Raoul darted away, roaring -with anger, ran up-stairs, four stairs at a time, down-stairs, rushed -through the whole of the business side of the opera-house, found -himself once more in the light of the stage. - -He stopped, with his heart thumping in his chest: suppose Christine -Daae had been found? He saw a group of men and asked: - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine Daae -is?" - -And somebody laughed. - -At the same moment the stage buzzed with a new sound and, amid a crowd -of men in evening-dress, all talking and gesticulating together, -appeared a man who seemed very calm and displayed a pleasant face, all -pink and chubby-cheeked, crowned with curly hair and lit up by a pair -of wonderfully serene blue eyes. Mercier, the acting-manager, called -the Vicomte de Chagny's attention to him and said: - -"This is the gentleman to whom you should put your question, monsieur. -Let me introduce Mifroid, the commissary of police." - -"Ah, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! Delighted to meet you, monsieur," said -the commissary. "Would you mind coming with me? ... And now where are -the managers? ... Where are the managers?" - -Mercier did not answer, and Remy, the secretary, volunteered the -information that the managers were locked up in their office and that -they knew nothing as yet of what had happened. - -"You don't mean to say so! Let us go up to the office!" - -And M. Mifroid, followed by an ever-increasing crowd, turned toward the -business side of the building. Mercier took advantage of the confusion -to slip a key into Gabriel's hand: - -"This is all going very badly," he whispered. "You had better let -Mother Giry out." - -And Gabriel moved away. - -They soon came to the managers' door. Mercier stormed in vain: the -door remained closed. - -"Open in the name of the law!" commanded M. Mifroid, in a loud and -rather anxious voice. - -At last the door was opened. All rushed in to the office, on the -commissary's heels. - -Raoul was the last to enter. As he was about to follow the rest into -the room, a hand was laid on his shoulder and he heard these words -spoken in his ear: - -"ERIK'S SECRETS CONCERN NO ONE BUT HIMSELF!" - -He turned around, with a stifled exclamation. The hand that was laid -on his shoulder was now placed on the lips of a person with an ebony -skin, with eyes of jade and with an astrakhan cap on his head: the -Persian! The stranger kept up the gesture that recommended discretion -and then, at the moment when the astonished viscount was about to ask -the reason of his mysterious intervention, bowed and disappeared. - - - -Chapter XVI Mme. Giry's Astounding Revelations as to Her Personal -Relations with the Opera Ghost - - -Before following the commissary into the manager's office I must -describe certain extraordinary occurrences that took place in that -office which Remy and Mercier had vainly tried to enter and into which -MM. Richard and Moncharmin had locked themselves with an object which -the reader does not yet know, but which it is my duty, as an historian, -to reveal without further postponement. - -I have had occasion to say that the managers' mood had undergone a -disagreeable change for some time past and to convey the fact that this -change was due not only to the fall of the chandelier on the famous -night of the gala performance. - -The reader must know that the ghost had calmly been paid his first -twenty thousand francs. Oh, there had been wailing and gnashing of -teeth, indeed! And yet the thing had happened as simply as could be. - -One morning, the managers found on their table an envelope addressed to -"Monsieur O. G. (private)" and accompanied by a note from O. G. himself: - -The time has come to carry out the clause in the memorandum-book. -Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope, -seal it with your own seal and hand it to Mme. Giry, who will do what -is necessary. - -The managers did not hesitate; without wasting time in asking how these -confounded communications came to be delivered in an office which they -were careful to keep locked, they seized this opportunity of laying -hands, on the mysterious blackmailer. And, after telling the whole -story, under the promise of secrecy, to Gabriel and Mercier, they put -the twenty thousand francs into the envelope and without asking for -explanations, handed it to Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her -functions. The box-keeper displayed no astonishment. I need hardly -say that she was well watched. She went straight to the ghost's box -and placed the precious envelope on the little shelf attached to the -ledge. The two managers, as well as Gabriel and Mercier, were hidden -in such a way that they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second -during the performance and even afterward, for, as the envelope had not -moved, those who watched it did not move either; and Mme. Giry went -away while the managers, Gabriel and Mercier were still there. At -last, they became tired of waiting and opened the envelope, after -ascertaining that the seals had not been broken. - -At first sight, Richard and Moncharmin thought that the notes were -still there; but soon they perceived that they were not the same. The -twenty real notes were gone and had been replaced by twenty notes, of -the "Bank of St. Farce"![1] - -The managers' rage and fright were unmistakable. Moncharmin wanted to -send for the commissary of police, but Richard objected. He no doubt -had a plan, for he said: - -"Don't let us make ourselves ridiculous! All Paris would laugh at us. -O. G. has won the first game: we will win the second." - -He was thinking of the next month's allowance. - -Nevertheless, they had been so absolutely tricked that they were bound -to suffer a certain dejection. And, upon my word, it was not difficult -to understand. We must not forget that the managers had an idea at the -back of their minds, all the time, that this strange incident might be -an unpleasant practical joke on the part of their predecessors and that -it would not do to divulge it prematurely. On the other hand, -Moncharmin was sometimes troubled with a suspicion of Richard himself, -who occasionally took fanciful whims into his head. And so they were -content to await events, while keeping an eye on Mother Giry. Richard -would not have her spoken to. - -"If she is a confederate," he said, "the notes are gone long ago. But, -in my opinion, she is merely an idiot." - -"She's not the only idiot in this business," said Moncharmin pensively. - -"Well, who could have thought it?" moaned Richard. "But don't be -afraid ... next time, I shall have taken my precautions." - -The next time fell on the same day that beheld the disappearance of -Christine Daae. In the morning, a note from the ghost reminded them -that the money was due. It read: - -Do just as you did last time. It went very well. Put the twenty -thousand in the envelope and hand it to our excellent Mme. Giry. - -And the note was accompanied by the usual envelope. They had only to -insert the notes. - -This was done about half an hour before the curtain rose on the first -act of Faust. Richard showed the envelope to Moncharmin. Then he -counted the twenty thousand-franc notes in front of him and put the -notes into the envelope, but without closing it. - -"And now," he said, "let's have Mother Giry in." - -The old woman was sent for. She entered with a sweeping courtesy. She -still wore her black taffeta dress, the color of which was rapidly -turning to rust and lilac, to say nothing of the dingy bonnet. She -seemed in a good temper. She at once said: - -"Good evening, gentlemen! It's for the envelope, I suppose?" - -"Yes, Mme. Giry," said Richard, most amiably. "For the envelope ... -and something else besides." - -"At your service, M. Richard, at your service. And what is the -something else, please?" - -"First of all, Mme. Giry, I have a little question to put to you." - -"By all means, M. Richard: Mme. Giry is here to answer you." - -"Are you still on good terms with the ghost?" - -"Couldn't be better, sir; couldn't be better." - -"Ah, we are delighted ... Look here, Mme. Giry," said Richard, in the -tone of making an important confidence. "We may just as well tell you, -among ourselves ... you're no fool!" - -"Why, sir," exclaimed the box-keeper, stopping the pleasant nodding of -the black feathers in her dingy bonnet, "I assure you no one has ever -doubted that!" - -"We are quite agreed and we shall soon understand one another. The -story of the ghost is all humbug, isn't it? ... Well, still between -ourselves, ... it has lasted long enough." - -Mme. Giry looked at the managers as though they were talking Chinese. -She walked up to Richard's table and asked, rather anxiously: - -"What do you mean? I don't understand." - -"Oh, you, understand quite well. In any case, you've got to -understand... And, first of all, tell us his name." - -"Whose name?" - -"The name of the man whose accomplice you are, Mme. Giry!" - -"I am the ghost's accomplice? I? ... His accomplice in what, pray?" - -"You do all he wants." - -"Oh! He's not very troublesome, you know." - -"And does he still tip you?" - -"I mustn't complain." - -"How much does he give you for bringing him that envelope?" - -"Ten francs." - -"You poor thing! That's not much, is it? - -"Why?" - -"I'll tell you that presently, Mme. Giry. Just now we should like to -know for what extraordinary reason you have given yourself body and -soul, to this ghost ... Mme. Giry's friendship and devotion are not to -be bought for five francs or ten francs." - -"That's true enough ... And I can tell you the reason, sir. There's -no disgrace about it... on the contrary." - -"We're quite sure of that, Mme. Giry!" - -"Well, it's like this ... only the ghost doesn't like me to talk about -his business." - -"Indeed?" sneered Richard. - -"But this is a matter that concerns myself alone ... Well, it was in -Box Five one evening, I found a letter addressed to myself, a sort of -note written in red ink. I needn't read the letter to you sir; I know -it by heart, and I shall never forget it if I live to be a hundred!" - -And Mme. Giry, drawing herself up, recited the letter with touching -eloquence: - -MADAM: - -1825. Mlle. Menetrier, leader of the ballet, became Marquise de Cussy. - -1832. Mlle. Marie Taglioni, a dancer, became Comtesse Gilbert des -Voisins. - -1846. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain. - -1847. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King Louis -of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld. - -1848. Mlle. Maria, a dancer, became Baronne d'Herneville. - -1870. Theresa Hessier, a dancer, married Dom Fernando, brother to the -King of Portugal. - -Richard and Moncharmin listened to the old woman, who, as she proceeded -with the enumeration of these glorious nuptials, swelled out, took -courage and, at last, in a voice bursting with pride, flung out the -last sentence of the prophetic letter: - -1885. Meg Giry, Empress! - -Exhausted by this supreme effort, the box-keeper fell into a chair, -saying: - -"Gentlemen, the letter was signed, 'Opera Ghost.' I had heard much of -the ghost, but only half believed in him. From the day when he -declared that my little Meg, the flesh of my flesh, the fruit of my -womb, would be empress, I believed in him altogether." - -And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry's -excited features to understand what could be got out of that fine -intellect with the two words "ghost" and "empress." - -But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? That was the -question. - -"You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he -says?" asked Moncharmin. - -"Yes. To begin with, I owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted -to be the leader of a row. I said to the ghost, 'If she is to be -empress in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at -once.' He said, 'Look upon it as done.' And he had only a word to say -to M. Poligny and the thing was done." - -"So you see that M. Poligny saw him!" - -"No, not any more than I did; but he heard him. The ghost said a word -in his ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, looking so -dreadfully pale." - -Moncharmin heaved a sigh. "What a business!" he groaned. - -"Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between the -ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny to do -M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of the -ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! ... -But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. "The only -person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry... Mme. Giry, do -you know what is in this envelope?" - -"Why, of course not," she said. - -"Well, look." - -Mine. Giry looked into the envelope with a lackluster eye, which soon -recovered its brilliancy. - -"Thousand-franc notes!" she cried. - -"Yes, Mme. Giry, thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" - -"I, sir? I? ... I swear ..." - -"Don't swear, Mme. Giry! ... And now I will tell you the second reason -why I sent for you. Mme. Giry, I am going to have you arrested." - -The two black feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected the -attitude of two notes of interrogation, changed into two notes of -exclamation; as for the bonnet itself, it swayed in menace on the old -lady's tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, protest and dismay -were furthermore displayed by little Meg's mother in a sort of -extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, half slide, that -brought her right under the nose of M. Richard, who could not help -pushing back his chair. - -"HAVE ME ARRESTED!" - -The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth that -were left to it into Richard's face. - -M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. His -threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out the keeper of -Box Five to the absent magistrates. - -"I am going to have you arrested, Mme. Giry, as a thief!" - -"Say that again!" - -And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear, -before Mr. Manager Moncharmin had time to intervene. But it was not -the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on the managerial -ear, but the envelope itself, the cause of all the trouble, the magic -envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, which -escaped in a fantastic whirl of giant butterflies. - -The two managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both go -on their knees, feverishly, picking up and hurriedly examining the -precious scraps of paper. - -"Are they still genuine, Moncharmin?" - -"Are they still genuine, Richard?" - -"Yes, they are still genuine!" - -Above their heads, Mme. Giry's three teeth were clashing in a noisy -contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could be clearly -distinguished was this LEIT-MOTIF: - -"I, a thief! ... I, a thief, I?" - -She choked with rage. She shouted: - -"I never heard of such a thing!" - -And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. - -"In any case," she yelped, "you, M. Richard, ought to know better than -I where the twenty thousand francs went to!" - -"I?" asked Richard, astounded. "And how should I know?" - -Moncharmin, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once insisted that the -good lady should explain herself. - -"What does this mean, Mme. Giry?" he asked. "And why do you say that -M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand -francs went to?" - -As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmin's eyes, -he took Mme. Giry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice -growling and rolling like thunder, he roared: - -"Why should I know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs -went to? Why? Answer me!" - -"Because they went into your pocket!" gasped the old woman, looking at -him as if he were the devil incarnate. - -Richard would have rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not stayed -his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently: - -"How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thousand -francs in his pocket?" - -"I never said that," declared Mme. Giry, "seeing that it was myself who -put the twenty-thousand francs into M. Richard's pocket." And she -added, under her voice, "There! It's out! ... And may the ghost -forgive me!" - -Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmin authoritatively ordered -him to be silent. - -"Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me question -her." And he added: "It is really astonishing that you should take up -such a tone! ... We are on the verge of clearing up the whole mystery. -And you're in a rage! ... You're wrong to behave like that... I'm -enjoying myself immensely." - -Mme. Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face -beaming with faith in her own innocence. - -"You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope which I -put into M. Richard's pocket; but I tell you again that I knew nothing -about it ... Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!" - -"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which -Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put -twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! I am -very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!" - -"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us -knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!" - -Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, if Moncharmin -had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. He resumed his -questions: - -"What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? It was not -the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box Five before -our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained the twenty-thousand -francs." - -"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave me was the -one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," explained Mme. -Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was another envelope, -just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand and which I hid up my -sleeve." - -So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared -and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs. -The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it was -fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. They -opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like those -which had so much astounded them the month before. - -"How simple!" said Richard. - -"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes -fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her. - -"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to -substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost who -told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?" - -"Yes, it was the ghost." - -"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? Here -is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing." - -"As you please, gentlemen." - -Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside it and made -for the door. She was on the point of going out when the two managers -rushed at her: - -"Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be 'done' a second time! Once -bitten, twice shy!" - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse, -"you told me to act as though you knew nothing ... Well, if you knew -nothing, I should go away with your envelope!" - -"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, whom -Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on Mme. -Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmin was -prepared to go to any length to discover the truth. - -"I am to slip it into your pocket when you least expect it, sir. You -know that I always take a little turn behind the scenes, in the course -of the evening, and I often go with my daughter to the ballet-foyer, -which I am entitled to do, as her mother; I bring her her shoes, when -the ballet is about to begin ... in fact, I come and go as I please ... -The subscribers come and go too... So do you, sir ... There are lots -of people about ... I go behind you and slip the envelope into the -tail-pocket of your dress-coat ... There's no witchcraft about that!" - -"No witchcraft!" growled Richard, rolling his eyes like Jupiter Tonans. -"No witchcraft! Why, I've just caught you in a lie, you old witch!" - -Mme. Giry bristled, with her three teeth sticking out of her mouth. - -"And why, may I ask?" - -"Because I spent that evening watching Box Five and the sham envelope -which you put there. I did not go to the ballet-foyer for a second." - -"No, sir, and I did not give you the envelope that evening, but at the -next performance ... on the evening when the under-secretary of state -for fine arts ..." - -At these words, M. Richard suddenly interrupted Mme. Giry: - -"Yes, that's true, I remember now! The under-secretary went behind the -scenes. He asked for me. I went down to the ballet-foyer for a -moment. I was on the foyer steps ... The under-secretary and his -chief clerk were in the foyer itself. I suddenly turned around ... you -had passed behind me, Mme. Giry ... You seemed to push against me ... -Oh, I can see you still, I can see you still!" - -"Yes, that's it, sir, that's it. I had just finished my little -business. That pocket of yours, sir, is very handy!" - -And Mme. Giry once more suited the action to the word, She passed -behind M. Richard and, so nimbly that Moncharmin himself was impressed -by it, slipped the envelope into the pocket of one of the tails of M. -Richard's dress-coat. - -"Of course!" exclaimed Richard, looking a little pale. "It's very -clever of O. G. The problem which he had to solve was this: how to do -away with any dangerous intermediary between the man who gives the -twenty-thousand francs and the man who receives it. And by far the -best thing he could hit upon was to come and take the money from my -pocket without my noticing it, as I myself did not know that it was -there. It's wonderful!" - -"Oh, wonderful, no doubt!" Moncharmin agreed. "Only, you forget, -Richard, that I provided ten-thousand francs of the twenty and that -nobody put anything in my pocket!" - - - -[1] Flash notes drawn on the "Bank of St. Farce" in France correspond -with those drawn on the "Bank of Engraving" in England.--Translator's -Note. - - - - -Chapter XVII The Safety-Pin Again - - -Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which he -now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, -at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all -Moncharmin's wishes, with the object of helping him to discover the -miscreant who was victimizing them. - -This brings us to the interval after the Garden Act, with the strange -conduct observed by M. Remy and those curious lapses from the dignity -that might be expected of the managers. It was arranged between -Richard and Moncharmin, first, that Richard should repeat the exact -movements which he had made on the night of the disappearance of the -first twenty-thousand francs; and, second, that Moncharmin should not -for an instant lose sight of Richard's coat-tail pocket, into which -Mme. Giry was to slip the twenty-thousand francs. - -M. Richard went and placed himself at the identical spot where he had -stood when he bowed to the under-secretary for fine arts. M. -Moncharmin took up his position a few steps behind him. - -Mme. Giry passed, rubbed up against M. Richard, got rid of her -twenty-thousand francs in the manager's coat-tail pocket and -disappeared ... Or rather she was conjured away. In accordance with -the instructions received from Moncharmin a few minutes earlier, -Mercier took the good lady to the acting-manager's office and turned -the key on her, thus making it impossible for her to communicate with -her ghost. - -Meanwhile, M. Richard was bending and bowing and scraping and walking -backward, just as if he had that high and mighty minister, the -under-secretary for fine arts, before him. Only, though these marks of -politeness would have created no astonishment if the under-secretary of -state had really been in front of M. Richard, they caused an easily -comprehensible amazement to the spectators of this very natural but -quite inexplicable scene when M. Richard had no body in front of him. - -M. Richard bowed ... to nobody; bent his back ... before nobody; and -walked backward ... before nobody ... And, a few steps behind him, M. -Moncharmin did the same thing that he was doing in addition to pushing -away M. Remy and begging M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, and the -manager of the Credit Central "not to touch M. le Directeur." - -Moncharmin, who had his own ideas, did not want Richard to come to him -presently, when the twenty-thousand francs were gone, and say: - -"Perhaps it was the ambassador ... or the manager of the Credit Central -... or Remy." - -The more so as, at the time of the first scene, as Richard himself -admitted, Richard had met nobody in that part of the theater after Mme. -Giry had brushed up against him... - -Having begun by walking backward in order to bow, Richard continued to -do so from prudence, until he reached the passage leading to the -offices of the management. In this way, he was constantly watched by -Moncharmin from behind and himself kept an eye on any one approaching -from the front. Once more, this novel method of walking behind the -scenes, adopted by the managers of our National Academy of Music, -attracted attention; but the managers themselves thought of nothing but -their twenty-thousand francs. - -On reaching the half-dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin, in a low -voice: - -"I am sure that nobody has touched me ... You had now better keep at -some distance from me and watch me till I come to door of the office: -it is better not to arouse suspicion and we can see anything that -happens." - -But Moncharmin replied. "No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I'll -walk immediately behind you! I won't leave you by a step!" - -"But, in that case," exclaimed Richard, "they will never steal our -twenty-thousand francs!" - -"I should hope not, indeed!" declared Moncharmin. - -"Then what we are doing is absurd!" - -"We are doing exactly what we did last time ... Last time, I joined -you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind you down -this passage." - -"That's true!" sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively obeying -Moncharmin. - -Two minutes later, the joint managers locked themselves into their -office. Moncharmin himself put the key in his pocket: - -"We remained locked up like this, last time," he said, "until you left -the Opera to go home." - -"That's so. No one came and disturbed us, I suppose?" - -"No one." - -"Then," said Richard, who was trying to collect his memory, "then I -must certainly have been robbed on my way home from the Opera." - -"No," said Moncharmin in a drier tone than ever, "no, that's -impossible. For I dropped you in my cab. The twenty-thousand francs -disappeared at your place: there's not a shadow of a doubt about that." - -"It's incredible!" protested Richard. "I am sure of my servants ... -and if one of them had done it, he would have disappeared since." - -Moncharmin shrugged his shoulders, as though to say that he did not -wish to enter into details, and Richard began to think that Moncharmin -was treating him in a very insupportable fashion. - -"Moncharmin, I've had enough of this!" - -"Richard, I've had too much of it!" - -"Do you dare to suspect me?" - -"Yes, of a silly joke." - -"One doesn't joke with twenty-thousand francs." - -"That's what I think," declared Moncharmin, unfolding a newspaper and -ostentatiously studying its contents. - -"What are you doing?" asked Richard. "Are you going to read the paper -next?" - -"Yes, Richard, until I take you home." - -"Like last time?" - -"Yes, like last time." - -Richard snatched the paper from Moncharmin's hands. Moncharmin stood -up, more irritated than ever, and found himself faced by an exasperated -Richard, who, crossing his arms on his chest, said: - -"Look here, I'm thinking of this, I'M THINKING OF WHAT I MIGHT THINK -if, like last time, after my spending the evening alone with you, you -brought me home and if, at the moment of parting, I perceived that -twenty-thousand francs had disappeared from my coat-pocket ... like -last time." - -"And what might you think?" asked Moncharmin, crimson with rage. - -"I might think that, as you hadn't left me by a foot's breadth and as, -by your own wish, you were the only one to approach me, like last time, -I might think that, if that twenty-thousand francs was no longer in my -pocket, it stood a very good chance of being in yours!" - -Moncharmin leaped up at the suggestion. - -"Oh!" he shouted. "A safety-pin!" - -"What do you want a safety-pin for?" - -"To fasten you up with! ... A safety-pin! ... A safety-pin!" - -"You want to fasten me with a safety-pin?" - -"Yes, to fasten you to the twenty-thousand francs! Then, whether it's -here, or on the drive from here to your place, or at your place, you -will feel the hand that pulls at your pocket and you will see if it's -mine! Oh, so you're suspecting me now, are you? A safety-pin!" - -And that was the moment when Moncharmin opened the door on the passage -and shouted: - -"A safety-pin! ... somebody give me a safety-pin!" - -And we also know how, at the same moment, Remy, who had no safety-pin, -was received by Moncharmin, while a boy procured the pin so eagerly -longed for. And what happened was this: Moncharmin first locked the -door again. Then he knelt down behind Richard's back. - -"I hope," he said, "that the notes are still there?" - -"So do I," said Richard. - -"The real ones?" asked Moncharmin, resolved not to be "had" this time. - -"Look for yourself," said Richard. "I refuse to touch them." - -Moncharmin took the envelope from Richard's pocket and drew out the -bank-notes with a trembling hand, for, this time, in order frequently -to make sure of the presence of the notes, he had not sealed the -envelope nor even fastened it. He felt reassured on finding that they -were all there and quite genuine. He put them back in the tail-pocket -and pinned them with great care. Then he sat down behind Richard's -coat-tails and kept his eyes fixed on them, while Richard, sitting at -his writing-table, did not stir. - -"A little patience, Richard," said Moncharmin. "We have only a few -minutes to wait ... The clock will soon strike twelve. Last time, we -left at the last stroke of twelve." - -"Oh, I shall have all the patience necessary!" - -The time passed, slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling. Richard tried to -laugh. - -"I shall end by believing in the omnipotence of the ghost," he said. -"Just now, don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, -alarming in the atmosphere of this room?" - -"You're quite right," said Moncharmin, who was really impressed. - -"The ghost!" continued Richard, in a low voice, as though fearing lest -he should be overheard by invisible ears. "The ghost! Suppose, all -the same, it were a ghost who puts the magic envelopes on the table ... -who talks in Box Five ... who killed Joseph Buquet ... who unhooked -the chandelier ... and who robs us! For, after all, after all, after -all, there is no one here except you and me, and, if the notes -disappear and neither you nor I have anything to do with it, well, we -shall have to believe in the ghost ... in the ghost." - -At that moment, the clock on the mantlepiece gave its warning click and -the first stroke of twelve struck. - -The two managers shuddered. The perspiration streamed from their -foreheads. The twelfth stroke sounded strangely in their ears. - -When the clock stopped, they gave a sigh and rose from their chairs. - -"I think we can go now," said Moncharmin. - -"I think so," Richard a agreed. - -"Before we go, do you mind if I look in your pocket?" - -"But, of course, Moncharmin, YOU MUST! ... Well?" he asked, as -Moncharmin was feeling at the pocket. - -"Well, I can feel the pin." - -"Of course, as you said, we can't be robbed without noticing it." - -But Moncharmin, whose hands were still fumbling, bellowed: - -"I can feel the pin, but I can't feel the notes!" - -"Come, no joking, Moncharmin! ... This isn't the time for it." - -"Well, feel for yourself." - -Richard tore off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket inside -out. THE POCKET WAS EMPTY. And the curious thing was that the pin -remained, stuck in the same place. - -Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt -about the witchcraft. - -"The ghost!" muttered Moncharmin. - -But Richard suddenly sprang upon his partner. - -"No one but you has touched my pocket! Give me back my twenty-thousand -francs! ... Give me back my twenty-thousand francs! ..." - -"On my soul," sighed Moncharmin, who was ready to swoon, "on my soul, I -swear that I haven't got it!" - -Then somebody knocked at the door. Moncharmin opened it automatically, -seemed hardly to recognize Mercier, his business-manager, exchanged a -few words with him, without knowing what he was saying and, with an -unconscious movement, put the safety-pin, for which he had no further -use, into the hands of his bewildered subordinate ... - - - -Chapter XVIII The Commissary, The Viscount and the Persian - - -The first words of the commissary of police, on entering the managers' -office, were to ask after the missing prima donna. - -"Is Christine Daae here?" - -"Christine Daae here?" echoed Richard. "No. Why?" - -As for Moncharmin, he had not the strength left to utter a word. - -Richard repeated, for the commissary and the compact crowd which had -followed him into the office observed an impressive silence. - -"Why do you ask if Christine Daae is here, M. LE COMMISSAIRE?" - -"Because she has to be found," declared the commissary of police -solemnly. - -"What do you mean, she has to be found? Has she disappeared?" - -"In the middle of the performance!" - -"In the middle of the performance? This is extraordinary!" - -"Isn't it? And what is quite as extraordinary is that you should first -learn it from me!" - -"Yes," said Richard, taking his head in his hands and muttering. "What -is this new business? Oh, it's enough to make a man send in his -resignation!" - -And he pulled a few hairs out of his mustache without even knowing what -he was doing. - -"So she ... so she disappeared in the middle of the performance?" he -repeated. - -"Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act, at the moment when she was -invoking the aid of the angels; but I doubt if she was carried off by -an angel." - -"And I am sure that she was!" - -Everybody looked round. A young man, pale and trembling with -excitement, repeated: - -"I am sure of it!" - -"Sure of what?" asked Mifroid. - -"That Christine Daae was carried off by an angel, M. LE COMMISSAIRE and -I can tell you his name." - -"Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae was -carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?" - -"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you where he -lives ... when we are alone." - -"You are right, monsieur." - -And the commissary of police, inviting Raoul to take a chair, cleared -the room of all the rest, excepting the managers. - -Then Raoul spoke: - -"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera and -he is the Angel of Music!" - -"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious! ... The Angel of -Music!" And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, "Have you an -Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?" - -Richard and Moncharmin shook their heads, without even speaking. - -"Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera -ghost. Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the -Angel of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik." - -M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively. - -"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun of -the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?" - -"I say that these gentlemen have heard of him." - -"Gentlemen, it appears that you know the Opera ghost?" - -Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand. - -"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did, -for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!" - -And Richard turned a terrible look on Moncharmin, which seemed to say: - -"Give me back the twenty-thousand francs, or I'll tell the whole story." - -Moncharmin understood what he meant, for, with a distracted gesture, he -said: - -"Oh, tell everything and have done with it!" - -As for Mifroid, he looked at the managers and at Raoul by turns and -wondered whether he had strayed into a lunatic asylum. He passed his -hand through his hair. - -"A ghost," he said, "who, on the same evening, carries off an -opera-singer and steals twenty-thousand francs is a ghost who must have -his hands very full! If you don't mind, we will take the questions in -order. The singer first, the twenty-thousand francs after. Come, M. -de Chagny, let us try to talk seriously. You believe that Mlle. -Christine Daae has been carried off by an individual called Erik. Do -you know this person? Have you seen him?" - -"Yes." - -"Where?" - -"In a church yard." - -M. Mifroid gave a start, began to scrutinize Raoul again and said: - -"Of course! ... That's where ghosts usually hang out! ... And what were -you doing in that churchyard?" - -"Monsieur," said Raoul, "I can quite understand how absurd my replies -must seem to you. But I beg you to believe that I am in full -possession of my faculties. The safety of the person dearest to me in -the world is at stake. I should like to convince you in a few words, -for time is pressing and every minute is valuable. Unfortunately, if I -do not tell you the strangest story that ever was from the beginning, -you will not believe me. I will tell you all I know about the Opera -ghost, M. Commissary. Alas, I do not know much! ..." - -"Never mind, go on, go on!" exclaimed Richard and Moncharmin, suddenly -greatly interested. - -Unfortunately for their hopes of learning some detail that could put -them on the track of their hoaxer, they were soon compelled to accept -the fact that M. Raoul de Chagny had completely lost his head. All -that story about Perros-Guirec, death's heads and enchanted violins, -could only have taken birth in the disordered brain of a youth mad with -love. It was evident, also, that Mr. Commissary Mifroid shared their -view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut short the incoherent -narrative if circumstances had not taken it upon themselves to -interrupt it. - -The door opened and a man entered, curiously dressed in an enormous -frock-coat and a tall hat, at once shabby and shiny, that came down to -his ears. He went up to the commissary and spoke to him in a whisper. -It was doubtless a detective come to deliver an important communication. - -During this conversation, M. Mifroid did not take his eyes off Raoul. -At last, addressing him, he said: - -"Monsieur, we have talked enough about the ghost. We will now talk -about yourself a little, if you have no objection: you were to carry -off Mlle. Christine Daae to-night?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"After the performance?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"All your arrangements were made?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"The carriage that brought you was to take you both away... There were -fresh horses in readiness at every stage ..." - -"That is true, M. le Commissaire." - -"And nevertheless your carriage is still outside the Rotunda awaiting -your orders, is it not?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"Did you know that there were three other carriages there, in addition -to yours?" - -"I did not pay the least attention." - -"They were the carriages of Mlle. Sorelli, which could not find room in -the Cour de l'Administration; of Carlotta; and of your brother, M. le -Comte de Chagny..." - -"Very likely..." - -"What is certain is that, though your carriage and Sorelli's and -Carlotta's are still there, by the Rotunda pavement, M. le Comte de -Chagny's carriage is gone." - -"This has nothing to say to ..." - -"I beg your pardon. Was not M. le Comte opposed to your marriage with -Mlle. Daae?" - -"That is a matter that only concerns the family." - -"You have answered my question: he was opposed to it ... and that was -why you were carrying Christine Daae out of your brother's reach... -Well, M. de Chagny, allow me to inform you that your brother has been -smarter than you! It is he who has carried off Christine Daae!" - -"Oh, impossible!" moaned Raoul, pressing his hand to his heart. "Are -you sure?" - -"Immediately after the artist's disappearance, which was procured by -means which we have still to ascertain, he flung into his carriage, -which drove right across Paris at a furious pace." - -"Across Paris?" asked poor Raoul, in a hoarse voice. "What do you mean -by across Paris?" - -"Across Paris and out of Paris ... by the Brussels road." - -"Oh," cried the young man, "I shall catch them!" And he rushed out of -the office. - -"And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily ... "Ah, that's -a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!" - -And, turning to his audience, M. Mifroid delivered a little lecture on -police methods. - -"I don't know for a moment whether M. le Comte de Chagny has really -carried Christine Daae off or not ... but I want to know and I believe -that, at this moment, no one is more anxious to inform us than his -brother ... And now he is flying in pursuit of him! He is my chief -auxiliary! This, gentlemen, is the art of the police, which is -believed to be so complicated and which, nevertheless appears so simple -as soon its you see that it consists in getting your work done by -people who have nothing to do with the police." - -But M. le Commissaire de Police Mifroid would not have been quite so -satisfied with himself if he had known that the rush of his rapid -emissary was stopped at the entrance to the very first corridor. A -tall figure blocked Raoul's way. - -"Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice. - -Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap of -an hour ago. He stopped: - -"It's you!" he cried, in a feverish voice. "You, who know Erik's -secrets and don't want me to speak of them. Who are you?" - -"You know who I am! ... I am the Persian!" - - - -Chapter XIX The Viscount and the Persian - - -Raoul now remembered that his brother had once shown him that -mysterious person, of whom nothing was known except that he was a -Persian and that he lived in a little old-fashioned flat in the Rue de -Rivoli. - -The man with the ebony skin, the eyes of jade and the astrakhan cap -bent over Raoul. - -"I hope, M. de Chagny," he said, "that you have not betrayed Erik's -secret?" - -"And why should I hesitate to betray that monster, sir?" Raoul rejoined -haughtily, trying to shake off the intruder. "Is he your friend, by -any chance?" - -"I hope that you said nothing about Erik, sir, because Erik's secret is -also Christine Daae's and to talk about one is to talk about the other!" - -"Oh, sir," said Raoul, becoming more and more impatient, "you seem to -know about many things that interest me; and yet I have no time to -listen to you!" - -"Once more, M. de Chagny, where are you going so fast?" - -"Can not you guess? To Christine Daae's assistance..." - -"Then, sir, stay here, for Christine Daae is here!" - -"With Erik?" - -"With Erik." - -"How do you know?" - -"I was at the performance and no one in the world but Erik could -contrive an abduction like that! ... Oh," he said, with a deep sigh, "I -recognized the monster's touch! ..." - -"You know him then?" - -The Persian did not reply, but heaved a fresh sigh. - -"Sir," said Raoul, "I do not know what your intentions are, but can you -do anything to help me? I mean, to help Christine Daae?" - -"I think so, M. de Chagny, and that is why I spoke to you." - -"What can you do?" - -"Try to take you to her ... and to him." - -"If you can do me that service, sir, my life is yours! ... One word -more: the commissary of police tells me that Christine Daae has been -carried off by my brother, Count Philippe." - -"Oh, M. de Chagny, I don't believe a word of it." - -"It's not possible, is it?" - -"I don't know if it is possible or not; but there are ways and ways of -carrying people off; and M. le Comte Philippe has never, as far as I -know, had anything to do with witchcraft." - -"Your arguments are convincing, sir, and I am a fool! ... Oh, let us -make haste! I place myself entirely in your hands! ... How should I -not believe you, when you are the only one to believe me ... when you -are the only one not to smile when Erik's name is mentioned?" - -And the young man impetuously seized the Persian's hands. They were -ice-cold. - -"Silence!" said the Persian, stopping and listening to the distant -sounds of the theater. "We must not mention that name here. Let us -say 'he' and 'him;' then there will be less danger of attracting his -attention." - -"Do you think he is near us?" - -"It is quite possible, Sir, if he is not, at this moment, with his -victim, IN THE HOUSE ON THE LAKE." - -"Ah, so you know that house too?" - -"If he is not there, he may be here, in this wall, in this floor, in -this ceiling! ... Come!" - -And the Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of his footsteps, led -him down passages which Raoul had never seen before, even at the time -when Christine used to take him for walks through that labyrinth. - -"If only Darius has come!" said the Persian. - -"Who is Darius?" - -"Darius? My servant." - -They were now in the center of a real deserted square, an immense -apartment ill-lit by a small lamp. The Persian stopped Raoul and, in -the softest of whispers, asked: - -"What did you say to the commissary?" - -"I said that Christine Daae's abductor was the Angel of Music, ALIAS -the Opera ghost, and that the real name was ..." - -"Hush! ... And did he believe you?" - -"No." - -"He attached no importance to what you said?" - -"No." - -"He took you for a bit of a madman?" - -"Yes." - -"So much the better!" sighed the Persian. - -And they continued their road. After going up and down several -staircases which Raoul had never seen before, the two men found -themselves in front of a door which the Persian opened with a -master-key. The Persian and Raoul were both, of course, in -dress-clothes; but, whereas Raoul had a tall hat, the Persian wore the -astrakhan cap which I have already mentioned. It was an infringement -of the rule which insists upon the tall hat behind the scenes; but in -France foreigners are allowed every license: the Englishman his -traveling-cap, the Persian his cap of astrakhan. - -"Sir," said the Persian, "your tall hat will be in your way: you would -do well to leave it in the dressing-room." - -"What dressing-room?" asked Raoul. - -"Christine Daae's." - -And the Persian, letting Raoul through the door which he had just -opened, showed him the actress' room opposite. They were at the end of -the passage the whole length of which Raoul had been accustomed to -traverse before knocking at Christine's door. - -"How well you know the Opera, sir!" - -"Not so well as 'he' does!" said the Persian modestly. - -And he pushed the young man into Christine's dressing-room, which was -as Raoul had left it a few minutes earlier. - -Closing the door, the Persian went to a very thin partition that -separated the dressing-room from a big lumber-room next to it. He -listened and then coughed loudly. - -There was a sound of some one stirring in the lumber-room; and, a few -seconds later, a finger tapped at the door. - -"Come in," said the Persian. - -A man entered, also wearing an astrakhan cap and dressed in a long -overcoat. He bowed and took a richly carved case from under his coat, -put it on the dressing-table, bowed once again and went to the door. - -"Did no one see you come in, Darius?" - -"No, master." - -"Let no one see you go out." - -The servant glanced down the passage and swiftly disappeared. - -The Persian opened the case. It contained a pair of long pistols. - -"When Christine Daae was carried off, sir, I sent word to my servant to -bring me these pistols. I have had them a long time and they can be -relied upon." - -"Do you mean to fight a duel?" asked the young man. - -"It will certainly be a duel which we shall have to fight," said the -other, examining the priming of his pistols. "And what a duel!" -Handing one of the pistols to Raoul, he added, "In this duel, we shall -be two to one; but you must be prepared for everything, for we shall be -fighting the most terrible adversary that you can imagine. But you -love Christine Daae, do you not?" - -"I worship the ground she stands on! But you, sir, who do not love -her, tell me why I find you ready to risk your life for her! You must -certainly hate Erik!" - -"No, sir," said the Persian sadly, "I do not hate him. If I hated him, -he would long ago have ceased doing harm." - -"Has he done you harm?" - -"I have forgiven him the harm which he has done me." - -"I do not understand you. You treat him as a monster, you speak of his -crime, he has done you harm and I find in you the same inexplicable -pity that drove me to despair when I saw it in Christine!" - -The Persian did not reply. He fetched a stool and set it against the -wall facing the great mirror that filled the whole of the wall-space -opposite. Then he climbed on the stool and, with his nose to the -wallpaper, seemed to be looking for something. - -"Ah," he said, after a long search, "I have it!" And, raising his -finger above his head, he pressed against a corner in the pattern of -the paper. Then he turned round and jumped off the stool: - -"In half a minute," he said, "he shall be ON HIS ROAD!" and crossing -the whole of the dressing-room he felt the great mirror. - -"No, it is not yielding yet," he muttered. - -"Oh, are we going out by the mirror?" asked Raoul. "Like Christine -Daae." - -"So you knew that Christine Daae went out by that mirror?" - -"She did so before my eyes, sir! I was hidden behind the curtain of -the inner room and I saw her vanish not by the glass, but in the glass!" - -"And what did you do?" - -"I thought it was an aberration of my senses, a mad dream. - -"Or some new fancy of the ghost's!" chuckled the Persian. "Ah, M. de -Chagny," he continued, still with his hand on the mirror, "would that -we had to do with a ghost! We could then leave our pistols in their -case ... Put down your hat, please ... there ... and now cover your -shirt-front as much as you can with your coat ... as I am doing ... -Bring the lapels forward ... turn up the collar ... We must make -ourselves as invisible as possible." - -Bearing against the mirror, after a short silence, he said: - -"It takes some time to release the counterbalance, when you press on -the spring from the inside of the room. It is different when you are -behind the wall and can act directly on the counterbalance. Then the -mirror turns at once and is moved with incredible rapidity." - -"What counterbalance?" asked Raoul. - -"Why, the counterbalance that lifts the whole of this wall on to its -pivot. You surely don't expect it to move of itself, by enchantment! -If you watch, you will see the mirror first rise an inch or two and -then shift an inch or two from left to right. It will then be on a -pivot and will swing round." - -"It's not turning!" said Raoul impatiently. - -"Oh, wait! You have time enough to be impatient, sir! The mechanism -has obviously become rusty, or else the spring isn't working... Unless -it is something else," added the Persian, anxiously. - -"What?" - -"He may simply have cut the cord of the counterbalance and blocked the -whole apparatus." - -"Why should he? He does not know that we are coming this way!" - -"I dare say he suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system." - -"It's not turning! ... And Christine, sir, Christine?" - -The Persian said coldly: - -"We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do! ... But he may stop -us at the first step! ... He commands the walls, the doors and the -trapdoors. In my country, he was known by a name which means the -'trap-door lover.'" - -"But why do these walls obey him alone? He did not build them!" - -"Yes, sir, that is just what he did!" - -Raoul looked at him in amazement; but the Persian made a sign to him to -be silent and pointed to the glass ... There was a sort of shivering -reflection. Their image was troubled as in a rippling sheet of water -and then all became stationary again. - -"You see, sir, that it is not turning! Let us take another road!" - -"To-night, there is no other!" declared the Persian, in a singularly -mournful voice. "And now, look out! And be ready to fire." - -He himself raised his pistol opposite the glass. Raoul imitated his -movement. With his free arm, the Persian drew the young man to his -chest and, suddenly, the mirror turned, in a blinding daze of -cross-lights: it turned like one of those revolving doors which have -lately been fixed to the entrances of most restaurants, it turned, -carrying Raoul and the Persian with it and suddenly hurling them from -the full light into the deepest darkness. - - - -Chapter XX In the Cellars of the Opera - - -"Your hand high, ready to fire!" repeated Raoul's companion quickly. - -The wall, behind them, having completed the circle which it described -upon itself, closed again; and the two men stood motionless for a -moment, holding their breath. - -At last, the Persian decided to make a movement; and Raoul heard him -slip on his knees and feel for something in the dark with his groping -hands. Suddenly, the darkness was made visible by a small dark lantern -and Raoul instinctively stepped backward as though to escape the -scrutiny of a secret enemy. But he soon perceived that the light -belonged to the Persian, whose movements he was closely observing. The -little red disk was turned in every direction and Raoul saw that the -floor, the walls and the ceiling were all formed of planking. It must -have been the ordinary road taken by Erik to reach Christine's -dressing-room and impose upon her innocence. And Raoul, remembering -the Persian's remark, thought that it had been mysteriously constructed -by the ghost himself. Later, he learned that Erik had found, all -prepared for him, a secret passage, long known to himself alone and -contrived at the time of the Paris Commune to allow the jailers to -convey their prisoners straight to the dungeons that had been -constructed for them in the cellars; for the Federates had occupied the -opera-house immediately after the eighteenth of March and had made a -starting-place right at the top for their Mongolfier balloons, which -carried their incendiary proclamations to the departments, and a state -prison right at the bottom. - -The Persian went on his knees and put his lantern on the ground. He -seemed to be working at the floor; and suddenly he turned off his -light. Then Raoul heard a faint click and saw a very pale luminous -square in the floor of the passage. It was as though a window had -opened on the Opera cellars, which were still lit. Raoul no longer saw -the Persian, but he suddenly felt him by his side and heard him whisper: - -"Follow me and do all that I do." - -Raoul turned to the luminous aperture. Then he saw the Persian, who -was still on his knees, hang by his hands from the rim of the opening, -with his pistol between his teeth, and slide into the cellar below. - -Curiously enough, the viscount had absolute confidence in the Persian, -though he knew nothing about him. His emotion when speaking of the -"monster" struck him as sincere; and, if the Persian had cherished any -sinister designs against him, he would not have armed him with his own -hands. Besides, Raoul must reach Christine at all costs. He therefore -went on his knees also and hung from the trap with both hands. - -"Let go!" said a voice. - -And he dropped into the arms of the Persian, who told him to lie down -flat, closed the trap-door above him and crouched down beside him. -Raoul tried to ask a question, but the Persian's hand was on his mouth -and he heard a voice which he recognized as that of the commissary of -police. - -Raoul and the Persian were completely hidden behind a wooden partition. -Near them, a small staircase led to a little room in which the -commissary appeared to be walking up and down, asking questions. The -faint light was just enough to enable Raoul to distinguish the shape of -things around him. And he could not restrain a dull cry: there were -three corpses there. - -The first lay on the narrow landing of the little staircase; the two -others had rolled to the bottom of the staircase. Raoul could have -touched one of the two poor wretches by passing his fingers through the -partition. - -"Silence!" whispered the Persian. - -He too had seen the bodies and he gave one word in explanation: - -"HE!" - -The commissary's voice was now heard more distinctly. He was asking -for information about the system of lighting, which the stage-manager -supplied. The commissary therefore must be in the "organ" or its -immediate neighborhood. - -Contrary to what one might think, especially in connection with an -opera-house, the "organ" is not a musical instrument. At that time, -electricity was employed only for a very few scenic effects and for the -bells. The immense building and the stage itself were still lit by -gas; hydrogen was used to regulate and modify the lighting of a scene; -and this was done by means of a special apparatus which, because of the -multiplicity of its pipes, was known as the "organ." A box beside the -prompter's box was reserved for the chief gas-man, who from there gave -his orders to his assistants and saw that they were executed. Mauclair -stayed in this box during all the performances. - -But now Mauclair was not in his box and his assistants not in their -places. - -"Mauclair! Mauclair!" - -The stage-manager's voice echoed through the cellars. But Mauclair did -not reply. - -I have said that a door opened on a little staircase that led to the -second cellar. The commissary pushed it, but it resisted. - -"I say," he said to the stage-manager, "I can't open this door: is it -always so difficult?" - -The stage-manager forced it open with his shoulder. He saw that, at -the same time, he was pushing a human body and he could not keep back -an exclamation, for he recognized the body at once: - -"Mauclair! Poor devil! He is dead!" - -But Mr. Commissary Mifroid, whom nothing surprised, was stooping over -that big body. - -"No," he said, "he is dead-drunk, which is not quite the same thing." - -"It's the first time, if so," said the stage-manager - -"Then some one has given him a narcotic. That is quite possible." - -Mifroid went down a few steps and said: - -"Look!" - -By the light of a little red lantern, at the foot of the stairs, they -saw two other bodies. The stage-manager recognized Mauclair's -assistants. Mifroid went down and listened to their breathing. - -"They are sound asleep," he said. "Very curious business! Some person -unknown must have interfered with the gas-man and his staff ... and -that person unknown was obviously working on behalf of the kidnapper -... But what a funny idea to kidnap a performer on the stage! ... Send -for the doctor of the theater, please." And Mifroid repeated, "Curious, -decidedly curious business!" - -Then he turned to the little room, addressing the people whom Raoul and -the Persian were unable to see from where they lay. - -"What do you say to all this, gentlemen? You are the only ones who -have not given your views. And yet you must have an opinion of some -sort." - -Thereupon, Raoul and the Persian saw the startled faces of the joint -managers appear above the landing--and they heard Moncharmin's excited -voice: - -"There are things happening here, Mr. Commissary, which we are unable -to explain." - -And the two faces disappeared. - -"Thank you for the information, gentlemen," said Mifroid, with a jeer. - -But the stage-manager, holding his chin in the hollow of his right -hand, which is the attitude of profound thought, said: - -"It is not the first time that Mauclair has fallen asleep in the -theater. I remember finding him, one evening, snoring in his little -recess, with his snuff-box beside him." - -"Is that long ago?" asked M. Mifroid, carefully wiping his eye-glasses. - -"No, not so very long ago ... Wait a bit! ... It was the night ... of -course, yes ... It was the night when Carlotta--you know, Mr. -Commissary--gave her famous 'co-ack'!" - -"Really? The night when Carlotta gave her famous 'co-ack'?" - -And M. Mifroid, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose, fixed the -stage-manager with a contemplative stare. - -"So Mauclair takes snuff, does he?" he asked carelessly. - -"'Yes, Mr. Commissary ... Look, there is his snuff-box on that little -shelf ... Oh! he's a great snuff-taker!" - -"So am I," said Mifroid and put the snuff-box in his pocket. - -Raoul and the Persian, themselves unobserved, watched the removal of -the three bodies by a number of scene-shifters, who were followed by -the commissary and all the people with him. Their steps were heard for -a few minutes on the stage above. When they were alone the Persian -made a sign to Raoul to stand up. Raoul did so; but, as he did not -lift his hand in front of his eyes, ready to fire, the Persian told him -to resume that attitude and to continue it, whatever happened. - -"But it tires the hand unnecessarily," whispered Raoul. "If I do fire, -I shan't be sure of my aim." - -"Then shift your pistol to the other hand," said the Persian. - -"I can't shoot with my left hand." - -Thereupon, the Persian made this queer reply, which was certainly not -calculated to throw light into the young man's flurried brain: - -"It's not a question of shooting with the right hand or the left; it's -a question of holding one of your hands as though you were going to -pull the trigger of a pistol with your arm bent. As for the pistol -itself, when all is said, you can put that in your pocket!" And he -added, "Let this be clearly understood, or I will answer for nothing. -It is a matter of life and death. And now, silence and follow me!" - -The cellars of the Opera are enormous and they are five in number. -Raoul followed the Persian and wondered what he would have done without -his companion in that extraordinary labyrinth. They went down to the -third cellar; and their progress was still lit by some distant lamp. - -The lower they went, the more precautions the Persian seemed to take. -He kept on turning to Raoul to see if he was holding his arm properly, -showing him how he himself carried his hand as if always ready to fire, -though the pistol was in his pocket. - -Suddenly, a loud voice made them stop. Some one above them shouted: - -"All the door-shutters on the stage! The commissary of police wants -them!" - -Steps were heard and shadows glided through the darkness. The Persian -drew Raoul behind a set piece. They saw passing before and above them -old men bent by age and the past burden of opera-scenery. Some could -hardly drag themselves along; others, from habit, with stooping bodies -and outstretched hands, looked for doors to shut. - -They were the door-shutters, the old, worn-out scene-shifters, on whom -a charitable management had taken pity, giving them the job of shutting -doors above and below the stage. They went about incessantly, from top -to bottom of the building, shutting the doors; and they were also -called "The draft-expellers," at least at that time, for I have little -doubt that by now they are all dead. Drafts are very bad for the -voice, wherever they may come from.[1] - -The two men might have stumbled over them, waking them up and provoking -a request for explanations. For the moment, M. Mifroid's inquiry saved -them from any such unpleasant encounters. - -The Persian and Raoul welcomed this incident, which relieved them of -inconvenient witnesses, for some of those door-shutters, having nothing -else to do or nowhere to lay their heads, stayed at the Opera, from -idleness or necessity, and spent the night there. - -But they were not left to enjoy their solitude for long. Other shades -now came down by the same way by which the door-shutters had gone up. -Each of these shades carried a little lantern and moved it about, -above, below and all around, as though looking for something or -somebody. - -"Hang it!" muttered the Persian. "I don't know what they are looking -for, but they might easily find us ... Let us get away, quick! ... -Your hand up, sir, ready to fire! ... Bend your arm ... more ... that's -it! ... Hand at the level of your eye, as though you were fighting a -duel and waiting for the word to fire! Oh, leave your pistol in your -pocket. Quick, come along, down-stairs. Level of your eye! Question -of life or death! ... Here, this way, these stairs!" They reached the -fifth cellar. "Oh, what a duel, sir, what a duel!" - -Once in the fifth cellar, the Persian drew breath. He seemed to enjoy -a rather greater sense of security than he had displayed when they both -stopped in the third; but he never altered the attitude of his hand. -And Raoul, remembering the Persian's observation--"I know these pistols -can be relied upon"--was more and more astonished, wondering why any -one should be so gratified at being able to rely upon a pistol which he -did not intend to use! - -But the Persian left him no time for reflection. Telling Raoul to stay -where he was, he ran up a few steps of the staircase which they had -just left and then returned. - -"How stupid of us!" he whispered. "We shall soon have seen the end of -those men with their lanterns. It is the firemen going their -rounds."[2] - -The two men waited five minutes longer. Then the Persian took Raoul up -the stairs again; but suddenly he stopped him with a gesture. -Something moved in the darkness before them. - -"Flat on your stomach!" whispered the Persian. - -The two men lay flat on the floor. - -They were only just in time. A shade, this time carrying no light, -just a shade in the shade, passed. It passed close to them, near -enough to touch them. - -They felt the warmth of its cloak upon them. For they could -distinguish the shade sufficiently to see that it wore a cloak which -shrouded it from head to foot. On its head it had a soft felt hat ... - -It moved away, drawing its feet against the walls and sometimes giving -a kick into a corner. - -"Whew!" said the Persian. "We've had a narrow escape; that shade knows -me and has twice taken me to the managers' office." - -"Is it some one belonging to the theater police?" asked Raoul. - -"It's some one much worse than that!" replied the Persian, without -giving any further explanation.[3] - -"It's not ... he?" - -"He? ... If he does not come behind us, we shall always see his yellow -eyes! That is more or less our safeguard to-night. But he may come -from behind, stealing up; and we are dead men if we do not keep our -hands as though about to fire, at the level of our eyes, in front!" - -The Persian had hardly finished speaking, when a fantastic face came in -sight ... a whole fiery face, not only two yellow eyes! - -Yes, a head of fire came toward them, at a man's height, but with no -body attached to it. The face shed fire, looked in the darkness like a -flame shaped as a man's face. - -"Oh," said the Persian, between his teeth. "I have never seen this -before! ... Pampin was not mad, after all: he had seen it! ... What -can that flame be? It is not HE, but he may have sent it! ... Take -care! ... Take care! Your hand at the level of your eyes, in Heaven's -name, at the level of your eyes! ... know most of his tricks ... but -not this one ... Come, let us run ... it is safer. Hand at the level -of your eyes!" - -And they fled down the long passage that opened before them. - -After a few seconds, that seemed to them like long minutes, they -stopped. - -"He doesn't often come this way," said the Persian. "This side has -nothing to do with him. This side does not lead to the lake nor to the -house on the lake ... But perhaps he knows that we are at his heels -... although I promised him to leave him alone and never to meddle in -his business again!" - -So saying, he turned his head and Raoul also turned his head; and they -again saw the head of fire behind their two heads. It had followed -them. And it must have run also, and perhaps faster than they, for it -seemed to be nearer to them. - -At the same time, they began to perceive a certain noise of which they -could not guess the nature. They simply noticed that the sound seemed -to move and to approach with the fiery face. It was a noise as though -thousands of nails had been scraped against a blackboard, the perfectly -unendurable noise that is sometimes made by a little stone inside the -chalk that grates on the blackboard. - -They continued to retreat, but the fiery face came on, came on, gaining -on them. They could see its features clearly now. The eyes were round -and staring, the nose a little crooked and the mouth large, with a -hanging lower lip, very like the eyes, nose and lip of the moon, when -the moon is quite red, bright red. - -How did that red moon manage to glide through the darkness, at a man's -height, with nothing to support it, at least apparently? And how did -it go so fast, so straight ahead, with such staring, staring eyes? And -what was that scratching, scraping, grating sound which it brought with -it? - -The Persian and Raoul could retreat no farther and flattened themselves -against the wall, not knowing what was going to happen because of that -incomprehensible head of fire, and especially now, because of the more -intense, swarming, living, "numerous" sound, for the sound was -certainly made up of hundreds of little sounds that moved in the -darkness, under the fiery face. - -And the fiery face came on ... with its noise ... came level with them! -... - -And the two companions, flat against their wall, felt their hair stand -on end with horror, for they now knew what the thousand noises meant. -They came in a troop, hustled along in the shadow by innumerable little -hurried waves, swifter than the waves that rush over the sands at high -tide, little night-waves foaming under the moon, under the fiery head -that was like a moon. And the little waves passed between their legs, -climbing up their legs, irresistibly, and Raoul and the Persian could -no longer restrain their cries of horror, dismay and pain. Nor could -they continue to hold their hands at the level of their eyes: their -hands went down to their legs to push back the waves, which were full -of little legs and nails and claws and teeth. - -Yes, Raoul and the Persian were ready to faint, like Pampin the -fireman. But the head of fire turned round in answer to their cries, -and spoke to them: - -"Don't move! Don't move! ... Whatever you do, don't come after me! -... I am the rat-catcher! ... Let me pass, with my rats! ..." - -And the head of fire disappeared, vanished in the darkness, while the -passage in front of it lit up, as the result of the change which the -rat-catcher had made in his dark lantern. Before, so as not to scare -the rats in front of him, he had turned his dark lantern on himself, -lighting up his own head; now, to hasten their flight, he lit the dark -space in front of him. And he jumped along, dragging with him the -waves of scratching rats, all the thousand sounds. - -Raoul and the Persian breathed again, though still trembling. - -"I ought to have remembered that Erik talked to me about the -rat-catcher," said the Persian. "But he never told me that he looked -like that ... and it's funny that I should never have met him before -... Of course, Erik never comes to this part!" - -[Illustration: two page color illustration] - -"Are we very far from the lake, sir?" asked Raoul. "When shall we get -there? ... Take me to the lake, oh, take me to the lake! ... When we -are at the lake, we will call out! ... Christine will hear us! ... And -HE will hear us, too! ... And, as you know him, we shall talk to him!" -"Baby!" said the Persian. "We shall never enter the house on the lake -by the lake! ... I myself have never landed on the other bank ... the -bank on which the house stands. ... You have to cross the lake first -... and it is well guarded! ... I fear that more than one of those -men--old scene-shifters, old door-shutters--who have never been seen -again were simply tempted to cross the lake ... It is terrible ... I -myself would have been nearly killed there ... if the monster had not -recognized me in time! ... One piece of advice, sir; never go near the -lake... And, above all, shut your ears if you hear the voice singing -under the water, the siren's voice!" - -"But then, what are we here for?" asked Raoul, in a transport of fever, -impatience and rage. "If you can do nothing for Christine, at least -let me die for her!" The Persian tried to calm the young man. - -"We have only one means of saving Christine Daae, believe me, which is -to enter the house unperceived by the monster." - -"And is there any hope of that, sir?" - -"Ah, if I had not that hope, I would not have come to fetch you!" - -"And how can one enter the house on the lake without crossing the lake?" - -"From the third cellar, from which we were so unluckily driven away. -We will go back there now ... I will tell you," said the Persian, with -a sudden change in his voice, "I will tell you the exact place, sir: it -is between a set piece and a discarded scene from ROI DE LAHORE, -exactly at the spot where Joseph Buquet died... Come, sir, take -courage and follow me! And hold your hand at the level of your eyes! -... But where are we?" - -The Persian lit his lamp again and flung its rays down two enormous -corridors that crossed each other at right angles. - -"We must be," he said, "in the part used more particularly for the -waterworks. I see no fire coming from the furnaces." - -He went in front of Raoul, seeking his road, stopping abruptly when he -was afraid of meeting some waterman. Then they had to protect -themselves against the glow of a sort of underground forge, which the -men were extinguishing, and at which Raoul recognized the demons whom -Christine had seen at the time of her first captivity. - -In this way, they gradually arrived beneath the huge cellars below the -stage. They must at this time have been at the very bottom of the -"tub" and at an extremely great depth, when we remember that the earth -was dug out at fifty feet below the water that lay under the whole of -that part of Paris.[4] - -The Persian touched a partition-wall and said: - -"If I am not mistaken, this is a wall that might easily belong to the -house on the lake." - -He was striking a partition-wall of the "tub," and perhaps it would be -as well for the reader to know how the bottom and the partition-walls -of the tub were built. In order to prevent the water surrounding the -building-operations from remaining in immediate contact with the walls -supporting the whole of the theatrical machinery, the architect was -obliged to build a double case in every direction. The work of -constructing this double case took a whole year. It was the wall of -the first inner case that the Persian struck when speaking to Raoul of -the house on the lake. To any one understanding the architecture of -the edifice, the Persian's action would seem to indicate that Erik's -mysterious house had been built in the double case, formed of a thick -wall constructed as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall, a -tremendous layer of cement and another wall several yards in thickness. - -At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against the wall and -listened eagerly. But he heard nothing ... nothing ... except distant -steps sounding on the floor of the upper portions of the theater. - -The Persian darkened his lantern again. - -"Look out!" he said. "Keep your hand up! And silence! For we shall -try another way of getting in." - -And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come down -lately. - -They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness and the -silence, till they came to the third cellar. Here the Persian motioned -to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, crawling on both knees -and one hand--for the other hand was held in the position -indicated--they reached the end wall. - -Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE. -Close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set -piece there was just room for a body ... for a body which one day was -found hanging there. The body of Joseph Buquet. - -The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment, he -seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his eyes upward, -toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint glimmer of a -lantern, through a cranny between two boards. This glimmer seemed to -trouble the Persian. - -At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act. He slipped -between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul -close upon his heels. With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall. -Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed -against the wall in Christine's dressing-room. Then a stone gave way, -leaving a hole in the wall. - -This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made a sign -to Raoul to do as he did. He cocked the pistol. - -And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole in the -wall. Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content to follow -him. - -The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped almost at once. Raoul -heard him feeling the stones around him. Then the Persian took out his -dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath him and -immediately extinguished his lantern. Raoul heard him say, in a -whisper: - -"We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise; take off -your boots." - -The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul. - -"Put them outside the wall," he said. "We shall find them there when -we leave."[5] - -He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round and -said: - -"I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and let -myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE. You must do exactly the same. Do not be -afraid. I will catch you in my arms." - -Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall of the -Persian, and then dropped down. - -He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms. - -"Hush!" said the Persian. - -And they stood motionless, listening. - -The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible. - -Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern again, -turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole through which -they had come, and failing to find it: - -"Oh!" he said. "The stone has closed of itself!" - -And the light of the lantern swept down the wall and over the floor. - -The Persian stooped and picked up something, a sort of cord, which he -examined for a second and flung away with horror. - -"The Punjab lasso!" he muttered. - -"What is it?" asked Raoul. - -The Persian shivered. "It might very well be the rope by which the man -was hanged, and which was looked for so long." - -And, suddenly seized with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk -of his lantern over the walls. In this way, he lit up a curious thing: -the trunk of a tree, which seemed still quite alive, with its leaves; -and the branches of that tree ran right up the walls and disappeared in -the ceiling. - -Because of the smallness of the luminous disk, it was difficult at -first to make out the appearance of things: they saw a corner of a -branch ... and a leaf ... and another leaf ... and, next to it, nothing -at all, nothing but the ray of light that seemed to reflect itself ... -Raoul passed his hand over that nothing, over that reflection. - -"Hullo!" he said. "The wall is a looking-glass!" - -"Yes, a looking-glass!" said the Persian, in a tone of deep emotion. -And, passing the hand that held the pistol over his moist forehead, he -added, "We have dropped into the torture-chamber!" - -What the Persian knew of this torture-chamber and what there befell him -and his companion shall be told in his own words, as set down in a -manuscript which he left behind him, and which I copy VERBATIM. - - - -[1] M. Pedro Gailhard has himself told me that he created a few -additional posts as door-shutters for old stage-carpenters whom he was -unwilling to dismiss from the service of the Opera. - -[2] In those days, it was still part of the firemen's duty to watch -over the safety of the Opera house outside the performances; but this -service has since been suppressed. I asked M. Pedro Gailhard the -reason, and he replied: - -"It was because the management was afraid that, in their utter -inexperience of the cellars of the Opera, the firemen might set fire to -the building!" - -[3] Like the Persian, I can give no further explanation touching the -apparition of this shade. Whereas, in this historic narrative, -everything else will be normally explained, however abnormal the course -of events may seem, I can not give the reader expressly to understand -what the Persian meant by the words, "It is some one much worse than -that!" The reader must try to guess for himself, for I promised M. -Pedro Gailhard, the former manager of the Opera, to keep his secret -regarding the extremely interesting and useful personality of the -wandering, cloaked shade which, while condemning itself to live in the -cellars of the Opera, rendered such immense services to those who, on -gala evenings, for instance, venture to stray away from the stage. I -am speaking of state services; and, upon my word of honor, I can say no -more. - -[4] All the water had to be exhausted, in the building of the Opera. -To give an idea of the amount of water that was pumped up, I can tell -the reader that it represented the area of the courtyard of the Louvre -and a height half as deep again as the towers of Notre Dame. And -nevertheless the engineers had to leave a lake. - -[5] These two pairs of boots, which were placed, according to the -Persian's papers, just between the set piece and the scene from the ROI -DE LAHORE, on the spot where Joseph Buquet was found hanging, were -never discovered. They must have been taken by some stage-carpenter or -"door-shutter." - - - - -Chapter XXI Interesting and Instructive Vicissitudes of a Persian in -the Cellars of the Opera - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE - -It was the first time that I entered the house on the lake. I had -often begged the "trap-door lover," as we used to call Erik in my -country, to open its mysterious doors to me. He always refused. I -made very many attempts, but in vain, to obtain admittance. Watch him -as I might, after I first learned that he had taken up his permanent -abode at the Opera, the darkness was always too thick to enable me to -see how he worked the door in the wall on the lake. One day, when I -thought myself alone, I stepped into the boat and rowed toward that -part of the wall through which I had seen Erik disappear. It was then -that I came into contact with the siren who guarded the approach and -whose charm was very nearly fatal to me. - -I had no sooner put off from the bank than the silence amid which I -floated on the water was disturbed by a sort of whispered singing that -hovered all around me. It was half breath, half music; it rose softly -from the waters of the lake; and I was surrounded by it through I knew -not what artifice. It followed me, moved with me and was so soft that -it did not alarm me. On the contrary, in my longing to approach the -source of that sweet and enticing harmony, I leaned out of my little -boat over the water, for there was no doubt in my mind that the singing -came from the water itself. By this time, I was alone in the boat in -the middle of the lake; the voice--for it was now distinctly a -voice--was beside me, on the water. I leaned over, leaned still -farther. The lake was perfectly calm, and a moonbeam that passed -through the air hole in the Rue Scribe showed me absolutely nothing on -its surface, which was smooth and black as ink. I shook my ears to get -rid of a possible humming; but I soon had to accept the fact that there -was no humming in the ears so harmonious as the singing whisper that -followed and now attracted me. - -Had I been inclined to superstition, I should have certainly thought -that I had to do with some siren whose business it was to confound the -traveler who should venture on the waters of the house on the lake. -Fortunately, I come from a country where we are too fond of fantastic -things not to know them through and through; and I had no doubt but -that I was face to face with some new invention of Erik's. But this -invention was so perfect that, as I leaned out of the boat, I was -impelled less by a desire to discover its trick than to enjoy its -charm; and I leaned out, leaned out until I almost overturned the boat. - -Suddenly, two monstrous arms issued from the bosom of the waters and -seized me by the neck, dragging me down to the depths with irresistible -force. I should certainly have been lost, if I had not had time to -give a cry by which Erik knew me. For it was he; and, instead of -drowning me, as was certainly his first intention, he swam with me and -laid me gently on the bank: - -"How imprudent you are!" he said, as he stood before me, dripping with -water. "Why try to enter my house? I never invited you! I don't want -you there, nor anybody! Did you save my life only to make it -unbearable to me? However great the service you rendered him, Erik may -end by forgetting it; and you know that nothing can restrain Erik, not -even Erik himself." - -He spoke, but I had now no other wish than to know what I already -called the trick of the siren. He satisfied my curiosity, for Erik, -who is a real monster--I have seen him at work in Persia, alas--is -also, in certain respects, a regular child, vain and self-conceited, -and there is nothing he loves so much, after astonishing people, as to -prove all the really miraculous ingenuity of his mind. - -He laughed and showed me a long reed. - -"It's the silliest trick you ever saw," he said, "but it's very useful -for breathing and singing in the water. I learned it from the Tonkin -pirates, who are able to remain hidden for hours in the beds of the -rivers."[1] - -I spoke to him severely. - -"It's a trick that nearly killed me!" I said. "And it may have been -fatal to others! You know what you promised me, Erik? No more -murders!" - -"Have I really committed murders?" he asked, putting on his most -amiable air. - -"Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours of -Mazenderan?" - -"Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. I used -to make the little sultana laugh, though!" - -"All that belongs to the past," I declared; "but there is the present -... and you are responsible to me for the present, because, if I had -wished, there would have been none at all for you. Remember that, -Erik: I saved your life!" - -And I took advantage of the turn of conversation to speak to him of -something that had long been on my mind: - -"Erik," I asked, "Erik, swear that ..." - -"What?" he retorted. "You know I never keep my oaths. Oaths are made -to catch gulls with." - -"Tell me ... you can tell me, at any rate..." - -"Well?" - -"Well, the chandelier ... the chandelier, Erik? ..." - -"What about the chandelier?" - -"You know what I mean." - -"Oh," he sniggered, "I don't mind telling you about the chandelier! -... IT WASN'T I! ... The chandelier was very old and worn." - -When Erik laughed, he was more terrible than ever. He jumped into the -boat, chuckling so horribly that I could not help trembling. - -"Very old and worn, my dear daroga![2] Very old and worn, the -chandelier! ... It fell of itself! ... It came down with a smash! ... -And now, daroga, take my advice and go and dry yourself, or you'll -catch a cold in the head! ... And never get into my boat again ... -And, whatever you do, don't try to enter my house: I'm not always -there ... daroga! And I should be sorry to have to dedicate my Requiem -Mass to you!" - -So saying, swinging to and fro, like a monkey, and still chuckling, he -pushed off and soon disappeared in the darkness of the lake. - -From that day, I gave up all thought of penetrating into his house by -the lake. That entrance was obviously too well guarded, especially -since he had learned that I knew about it. But I felt that there must -be another entrance, for I had often seen Erik disappear in the third -cellar, when I was watching him, though I could not imagine how. - -Ever since I had discovered Erik installed in the Opera, I lived in a -perpetual terror of his horrible fancies, not in so far as I was -concerned, but I dreaded everything for others.[3] - -And whenever some accident, some fatal event happened, I always thought -to myself, "I should not be surprised if that were Erik," even as -others used to say, "It's the ghost!" How often have I not heard -people utter that phrase with a smile! Poor devils! If they had known -that the ghost existed in the flesh, I swear they would not have -laughed! - -Although Erik announced to me very solemnly that he had changed and -that he had become the most virtuous of men SINCE HE WAS LOVED FOR -HIMSELF--a sentence that, at first, perplexed me most terribly--I could -not help shuddering when I thought of the monster. His horrible, -unparalleled and repulsive ugliness put him without the pale of -humanity; and it often seemed to me that, for this reason, he no longer -believed that he had any duty toward the human race. The way in which -he spoke of his love affairs only increased my alarm, for I foresaw the -cause of fresh and more hideous tragedies in this event to which he -alluded so boastfully. - -On the other hand, I soon discovered the curious moral traffic -established between the monster and Christine Daae. Hiding in the -lumber-room next to the young prima donna's dressing-room, I listened -to wonderful musical displays that evidently flung Christine into -marvelous ecstasy; but, all the same, I would never have thought that -Erik's voice--which was loud as thunder or soft as angels' voices, at -will--could have made her forget his ugliness. I understood all when I -learned that Christine had not yet seen him! I had occasion to go to -the dressing-room and, remembering the lessons he had once given me, I -had no difficulty in discovering the trick that made the wall with the -mirror swing round and I ascertained the means of hollow bricks and so -on--by which he made his voice carry to Christine as though she heard -it close beside her. In this way also I discovered the road that led -to the well and the dungeon--the Communists' dungeon--and also the -trap-door that enabled Erik to go straight to the cellars below the -stage. - -A few days later, what was not my amazement to learn by my own eyes and -ears that Erik and Christine Daae saw each other and to catch the -monster stooping over the little well, in the Communists' road and -sprinkling the forehead of Christine Daae, who had fainted. A white -horse, the horse out of the PROFETA, which had disappeared from the -stables under the Opera, was standing quietly beside them. I showed -myself. It was terrible. I saw sparks fly from those yellow eyes and, -before I had time to say a word, I received a blow on the head that -stunned me. - -When I came to myself, Erik, Christine and the white horse had -disappeared. I felt sure that the poor girl was a prisoner in the -house on the lake. Without hesitation, I resolved to return to the -bank, notwithstanding the attendant danger. For twenty-four hours, I -lay in wait for the monster to appear; for I felt that he must go out, -driven by the need of obtaining provisions. And, in this connection, I -may say, that, when he went out in the streets or ventured to show -himself in public, he wore a pasteboard nose, with a mustache attached -to it, instead of his own horrible hole of a nose. This did not quite -take away his corpse-like air, but it made him almost, I say almost, -endurable to look at. - -I therefore watched on the bank of the lake and, weary of long waiting, -was beginning to think that he had gone through the other door, the -door in the third cellar, when I heard a slight splashing in the dark, -I saw the two yellow eyes shining like candles and soon the boat -touched shore. Erik jumped out and walked up to me: - -"You've been here for twenty-four hours," he said, "and you're annoying -me. I tell you, all this will end very badly. And you will have -brought it upon yourself; for I have been extraordinarily patient with -you. You think you are following me, you great booby, whereas it's I -who am following you; and I know all that you know about me, here. I -spared you yesterday, in MY COMMUNISTS' ROAD; but I warn you, -seriously, don't let me catch you there again! Upon my word, you don't -seem able to take a hint!" - -He was so furious that I did not think, for the moment, of interrupting -him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus, he put his horrible -thought into words: - -"Yes, you must learn, once and for all--once and for all, I say--to -take a hint! I tell you that, with your recklessness--for you have -already been twice arrested by the shade in the felt hat, who did not -know what you were doing in the cellars and took you to the managers, -who looked upon you as an eccentric Persian interested in stage -mechanism and life behind the scenes: I know all about it, I was -there, in the office; you know I am everywhere--well, I tell you that, -with your recklessness, they will end by wondering what you are after -here ... and they will end by knowing that you are after Erik ... and -then they will be after Erik themselves and they will discover the -house on the lake ... If they do, it will be a bad lookout for you, -old chap, a bad lookout! ... I won't answer for anything." - -Again he puffed and blew like a walrus. - -"I won't answer for anything! ... If Erik's secrets cease to be Erik's -secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER OF THE HUMAN -RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you are a great booby, -it ought to be enough for you ... except that you don't know how to -take a hint." - -He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his heels -against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer. I simply -said: - -"It's not Erik that I'm after here!" - -"Who then?" - -"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered. - -He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house. I am -loved for my own sake." - -"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are keeping -her locked up." - -"Listen," he said. "Will you promise never to meddle with my affairs -again, if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?" - -"Yes, I promise you," I replied, without hesitation, for I felt -convinced that for such a monster the proof was impossible. - -"Well, then, it's quite simple ... Christine Daae shall leave this as -she pleases and come back again! ... Yes, come back again, because she -wishes ... come back of herself, because she loves me for myself! ..." - -"Oh, I doubt if she will come back! ... But it is your duty to let her -go." "My duty, you great booby! ... It is my wish ... my wish to let -her go; and she will come back again ... for she loves me! ... All this -will end in a marriage ... a marriage at the Madeleine, you great -booby! Do you believe me now? When I tell you that my nuptial mass is -written ... wait till you hear the KYRIE..." - -He beat time with his heels on the planks of the boat and sang: - -"KYRIE! ... KYRIE! ... KYRIE ELEISON! ... Wait till you hear, wait till -you hear that mass." - -"Look here," I said. "I shall believe you if I see Christine Daae come -out of the house on the lake and go back to it of her own accord." - -"And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?" - -"No." - -"Very well, you shall see that to-night. Come to the masked ball. -Christine and I will go and have a look round. Then you can hide in -the lumber-room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone to her -dressing-room, delighted to come back by the Communists' road... And, -now, be off, for I must go and do some shopping!" - -To my intense astonishment, things happened as he had announced. -Christine Daae left the house on the lake and returned to it several -times, without, apparently, being forced to do so. It was very -difficult for me to clear my mind of Erik. However, I resolved to be -extremely prudent, and did not make the mistake of returning to the -shore of the lake, or of going by the Communists' road. But the idea -of the secret entrance in the third cellar haunted me, and I repeatedly -went and waited for hours behind a scene from the Roi de Lahore, which -had been left there for some reason or other. At last my patience was -rewarded. One day, I saw the monster come toward me, on his knees. I -was certain that he could not see me. He passed between the scene -behind which I stood and a set piece, went to the wall and pressed on a -spring that moved a stone and afforded him an ingress. He passed -through this, and the stone closed behind him. - -I waited for at least thirty minutes and then pressed the spring in my -turn. Everything happened as with Erik. But I was careful not to go -through the hole myself, for I knew that Erik was inside. On the other -hand, the idea that I might be caught by Erik suddenly made me think of -the death of Joseph Buquet. I did not wish to jeopardize the -advantages of so great a discovery which might be useful to many -people, "to a goodly number of the human race," in Erik's words; and I -left the cellars of the Opera after carefully replacing the stone. - -I continued to be greatly interested in the relations between Erik and -Christine Daae, not from any morbid curiosity, but because of the -terrible thought which obsessed my mind that Erik was capable of -anything, if he once discovered that he was not loved for his own sake, -as he imagined. I continued to wander, very cautiously, about the -Opera and soon learned the truth about the monster's dreary love-affair. - -He filled Christine's mind, through the terror with which he inspired -her, but the dear child's heart belonged wholly to the Vicomte Raoul de -Chagny. While they played about, like an innocent engaged couple, on -the upper floors of the Opera, to avoid the monster, they little -suspected that some one was watching over them. I was prepared to do -anything: to kill the monster, if necessary, and explain to the police -afterward. But Erik did not show himself; and I felt none the more -comfortable for that. - -I must explain my whole plan. I thought that the monster, being driven -from his house by jealousy, would thus enable me to enter it, without -danger, through the passage in the third cellar. It was important, for -everybody's sake, that I should know exactly what was inside. One day, -tired of waiting for an opportunity, I moved the stone and at once -heard an astounding music: the monster was working at his Don Juan -Triumphant, with every door in his house wide open. I knew that this -was the work of his life. I was careful not to stir and remained -prudently in my dark hole. - -He stopped playing, for a moment, and began walking about his place, -like a madman. And he said aloud, at the top of his voice: - -"It must be finished FIRST! Quite finished!" - -This speech was not calculated to reassure me and, when the music -recommenced, I closed the stone very softly. - -On the day of the abduction of Christine Daae, I did not come to the -theater until rather late in the evening, trembling lest I should hear -bad news. I had spent a horrible day, for, after reading in a morning -paper the announcement of a forthcoming marriage between Christine and -the Vicomte de Chagny, I wondered whether, after all, I should not do -better to denounce the monster. But reason returned to me, and I was -persuaded that this action could only precipitate a possible -catastrophe. - -When, my cab set me down before the Opera, I was really almost -astonished to see it still standing! But I am something of a fatalist, -like all good Orientals, and I entered ready, for anything. - -Christine Daae's abduction in the Prison Act, which naturally surprised -everybody, found me prepared. I was quite certain that she had been -juggled away by Erik, that prince of conjurers. And I thought -positively that this was the end of Christine and perhaps of everybody, -so much so that I thought of advising all these people who were staying -on at the theater to make good their escape. I felt, however, that -they would be sure to look upon me as mad and I refrained. - -On the other hand, I resolved to act without further delay, as far as I -was concerned. The chances were in my favor that Erik, at that moment, -was thinking only of his captive. This was the moment to enter his -house through the third cellar; and I resolved to take with me that -poor little desperate viscount, who, at the first suggestion, accepted, -with an amount of confidence in myself that touched me profoundly. I -had sent my servant for my pistols. I gave one to the viscount and -advised him to hold himself ready to fire, for, after all, Erik might -be waiting for us behind the wall. We were to go by the Communists' -road and through the trap-door. - -Seeing my pistols, the little viscount asked me if we were going to -fight a duel. I said: - -"Yes; and what a duel!" But, of course, I had no time to explain -anything to him. The little viscount is a brave fellow, but he knew -hardly anything about his adversary; and it was so much the better. My -great fear was that he was already somewhere near us, preparing the -Punjab lasso. No one knows better than he how to throw the Punjab -lasso, for he is the king of stranglers even as he is the prince of -conjurors. When he had finished making the little sultana laugh, at -the time of the "rosy hours of Mazenderan," she herself used to ask him -to amuse her by giving her a thrill. It was then that he introduced -the sport of the Punjab lasso. - -He had lived in India and acquired an incredible skill in the art of -strangulation. He would make them lock him into a courtyard to which -they brought a warrior--usually, a man condemned to death--armed with a -long pike and broadsword. Erik had only his lasso; and it was always -just when the warrior thought that he was going to fell Erik with a -tremendous blow that we heard the lasso whistle through the air. With -a turn of the wrist, Erik tightened the noose round his adversary's -neck and, in this fashion, dragged him before the little sultana and -her women, who sat looking from a window and applauding. The little -sultana herself learned to wield the Punjab lasso and killed several of -her women and even of the friends who visited her. But I prefer to -drop this terrible subject of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. I have -mentioned it only to explain why, on arriving with the Vicomte de -Chagny in the cellars of the Opera, I was bound to protect my companion -against the ever-threatening danger of death by strangling. My pistols -could serve no purpose, for Erik was not likely to show himself; but -Erik could always strangle us. I had no time to explain all this to -the viscount; besides, there was nothing to be gained by complicating -the position. I simply told M. de Chagny to keep his hand at the level -of his eyes, with the arm bent, as though waiting for the command to -fire. With his victim in this attitude, it is impossible even for the -most expert strangler to throw the lasso with advantage. It catches -you not only round the neck, but also round the arm or hand. This -enables you easily to unloose the lasso, which then becomes harmless. - -After avoiding the commissary of police, a number of door-shutters and -the firemen, after meeting the rat-catcher and passing the man in the -felt hat unperceived, the viscount and I arrived without obstacle in -the third cellar, between the set piece and the scene from the Roi de -Lahore. I worked the stone, and we jumped into the house which Erik -had built himself in the double case of the foundation-walls of the -Opera. And this was the easiest thing in the world for him to do, -because Erik was one of the chief contractors under Philippe Garnier, -the architect of the Opera, and continued to work by himself when the -works were officially suspended, during the war, the siege of Paris and -the Commune. - -I knew my Erik too well to feel at all comfortable on jumping into his -house. I knew what he had made of a certain palace at Mazenderan. -From being the most honest building conceivable, he soon turned it into -a house of the very devil, where you could not utter a word but it was -overheard or repeated by an echo. With his trap-doors the monster was -responsible for endless tragedies of all kinds. He hit upon -astonishing inventions. Of these, the most curious, horrible and -dangerous was the so-called torture-chamber. Except in special cases, -when the little sultana amused herself by inflicting suffering upon -some unoffending citizen, no one was let into it but wretches condemned -to death. And, even then, when these had "had enough," they were -always at liberty to put an end to themselves with a Punjab lasso or -bowstring, left for their use at the foot of an iron tree. - -My alarm, therefore, was great when I saw that the room into which M. -le Vicomte de Chagny and I had dropped was an exact copy of the -torture-chamber of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. At our feet, I found -the Punjab lasso which I had been dreading all the evening. I was -convinced that this rope had already done duty for Joseph Buquet, who, -like myself, must have caught Erik one evening working the stone in the -third cellar. He probably tried it in his turn, fell into the -torture-chamber and only left it hanged. I can well imagine Erik -dragging the body, in order to get rid of it, to the scene from the Roi -de Lahore, and hanging it there as an example, or to increase the -superstitious terror that was to help him in guarding the approaches to -his lair! Then, upon reflection, Erik went back to fetch the Punjab -lasso, which is very curiously made out of catgut, and which might have -set an examining magistrate thinking. This explains the disappearance -of the rope. - -And now I discovered the lasso, at our feet, in the torture-chamber! -... I am no coward, but a cold sweat covered my forehead as I moved -the little red disk of my lantern over the walls. - -M. de Chagny noticed it and asked: - -"What is the matter, sir?" - -I made him a violent sign to be silent. - - - -[1] An official report from Tonkin, received in Paris at the end of -July, 1909, relates how the famous pirate chief De Tham was tracked, -together with his men, by our soldiers; and how all of them succeeded -in escaping, thanks to this trick of the reeds. - -[2] DAROGA is Persian for chief of police. - -[3] The Persian might easily have admitted that Erik's fate also -interested himself, for he was well aware that, if the government of -Teheran had learned that Erik was still alive, it would have been all -up with the modest pension of the erstwhile daroga. It is only fair, -however, to add that the Persian had a noble and generous heart; and I -do not doubt for a moment that the catastrophes which he feared for -others greatly occupied his mind. His conduct, throughout this -business, proves it and is above all praise. - - - - -Chapter XXII In the Torture Chamber - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -We were in the middle of a little six-cornered room, the sides of which -were covered with mirrors from top to bottom. In the corners, we could -clearly see the "joins" in the glasses, the segments intended to turn -on their gear; yes, I recognized them and I recognized the iron tree in -the corner, at the bottom of one of those segments ... the iron tree, -with its iron branch, for the hanged men. - -I seized my companion's arm: the Vicomte de Chagny was all a-quiver, -eager to shout to his betrothed that he was bringing her help. I -feared that he would not be able to contain himself. - -Suddenly, we heard a noise on our left. It sounded at first like a -door opening and shutting in the next room; and then there was a dull -moan. I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still; and then we -distinctly heard these words: - -"You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!" I -recognized the voice of the monster. - -There was another moan, followed by a long silence. - -I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence in -his house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not to let us -hear him. He would only have had to close the little invisible window -through which the torture-lovers look down into the torture-chamber. -Besides, I was certain that, if he had known of our presence, the -tortures would have begun at once. - -The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded nothing so -much as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny, who wanted to rush -through the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans we continued to hear -at intervals. - -"The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed, "whereas -the wedding mass--you can take my word for it--is magnificent! You -must take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go on living -like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant is finished; -and now I want to live like everybody else. I want to have a wife like -everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a mask -that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round in -the streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all -by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You -are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you -shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me I -should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that -you pleased." - -Soon the moans that accompanied this sort of love's litany increased -and increased. I have never heard anything more despairing; and M. de -Chagny and I recognized that this terrible lamentation came from Erik -himself. Christine seemed to be standing dumb with horror, without the -strength to cry out, while the monster was on his knees before her. - -Three times over, Erik fiercely bewailed his fate: - -"You don't love me! You don't love me! You don't love me!" - -And then, more gently: - -"Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!" - -A silence. - -Each silence gave us fresh hope. We said to ourselves: - -"Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall." - -And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae of our -presence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave the -torture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us; and it was -only on this condition that we could hope to help her, for we did not -even know where the door might be. - -Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing of -an electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall and -Erik's voice of thunder: - -"Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!" - -A sinister chuckle. - -"Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here ... I AM GOING TO TELL -THE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR." - -Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the fresh -horror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going out -perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing: -Christine was alone behind the wall! - -The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her: - -"Christine! Christine!" - -As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was no reason -why my companion should not be heard in his turn. Nevertheless, the -viscount had to repeat his cry time after time. - -At last, a faint voice reached us. - -"I am dreaming!" it said. - -"Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul!" - -A silence. - -"But answer me, Christine! ... In Heaven's name, if you are alone, -answer me!" - -Then Christine's voice whispered Raoul's name. - -"Yes! Yes! It is I! It is not a dream! ... Christine, trust me! ... -We are here to save you ... but be prudent! When you hear the monster, -warn us!" - -Then Christine gave way to fear. She trembled lest Erik should -discover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words -that Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO KILL -EVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent to become -his wife. He had given her till eleven o'clock the next evening for -reflection. It was the last respite. She must choose, as he said, -between the wedding mass and the requiem. - -And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not quite -understand: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded in a -terrible manner with my own dreadful thought. - -"Can you tell us where Erik is?" I asked. - -She replied that he must have left the house. - -"Could you make sure?" - -"No. I am fastened. I can not stir a limb." - -When we heard this, M. de Chagny and I gave a yell of fury. Our -safety, the safety of all three of us, depended on the girl's liberty -of movement. - -"But where are you?" asked Christine. "There are only two doors in my -room, the Louis-Philippe room of which I told you, Raoul; a door -through which Erik comes and goes, and another which he has never -opened before me and which he has forbidden me ever to go through, -because he says it is the most dangerous of the doors, the door of the -torture-chamber!" - -"Christine, that is where we are!" - -"You are in the torture-chamber?" - -"Yes, but we can not see the door." - -"Oh, if I could only drag myself so far! I would knock at the door and -that would tell you where it is." - -"Is it a door with a lock to it?" I asked. - -"Yes, with a lock." - -"Mademoiselle," I said, "it is absolutely necessary, that you should -open that door to us!" - -"But how?" asked the poor girl tearfully. - -We heard her straining, trying to free herself from the bonds that held -her. - -"I know where the key is," she said, in a voice that seemed exhausted -by the effort she had made. "But I am fastened so tight ... Oh, the -wretch!" - -And she gave a sob. - -"Where is the key?" I asked, signing to M. de Chagny not to speak and -to leave the business to me, for we had not a moment to lose. - -"In the next room, near the organ, with another little bronze key, -which he also forbade me to touch. They are both in a little leather -bag which he calls the bag of life and death... Raoul! Raoul! Fly! -Everything is mysterious and terrible here, and Erik will soon have -gone quite mad, and you are in the torture-chamber! ... Go back by the -way you came. There must be a reason why the room is called by that -name!" - -"Christine," said the young man. "We will go from here together or die -together!" - -"We must keep cool," I whispered. "Why has he fastened you, -mademoiselle? You can't escape from his house; and he knows it!" - -"I tried to commit suicide! The monster went out last night, after -carrying me here fainting and half chloroformed. He was going TO HIS -BANKER, so he said! ... When he returned he found me with my face -covered with blood ... I had tried to kill myself by striking my -forehead against the walls." - -"Christine!" groaned Raoul; and he began to sob. - -"Then he bound me ... I am not allowed to die until eleven o'clock -to-morrow evening." - -"Mademoiselle," I declared, "the monster bound you ... and he shall -unbind you. You have only to play the necessary part! Remember that -he loves you!" - -"Alas!" we heard. "Am I likely to forget it!" - -"Remember it and smile to him ... entreat him ... tell him that your -bonds hurt you." - -But Christine Daae said: - -"Hush! ... I hear something in the wall on the lake! ... It is he! ... -Go away! Go away! Go away!" - -"We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressively -as I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in the -torture-chamber!" - -"Hush!" whispered Christine again. - -Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made the -floor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by a cry -of horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice: - -"I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! What a state -I am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! Why did he ring? Do I -ask people who pass to tell me the time? He will never ask anybody the -time again! It is the siren's fault." - -[Illustration: two page color illustration] - -Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmal -depths of a soul. - -"Why did you cry out, Christine?" - -"Because I am in pain, Erik." - -"I thought I had frightened you." - -"Erik, unloose my bonds ... Am I not your prisoner?" - -"You will try to kill yourself again." - -"You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik." - -The footsteps dragged along the floor again. - -"After all, as we are to die together ... and I am just as eager as you -... yes, I have had enough of this life, you know... Wait, don't move, -I will release you ... You have only one word to say: 'NO!' And it -will at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! ... You are right, you are right; -why wait till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening? True, it would have -been grander, finer ... But that is childish nonsense ... We should -only think of ourselves in this life, of our own death ... the rest -doesn't matter... YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET? ... Oh, -my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside! ... Apart from that, -Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations ... You know, the -man who rang at the siren's door just now--go and look if he's ringing -at the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like... There, turn -round ... are you glad? You're free now... Oh, my poor Christine, -look at your wrists: tell me, have I hurt them? ... That alone -deserves death ... Talking of death, I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!" - -Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment ... I -too had once rung at the monster's door ... and, without knowing it, -must have set some warning current in motion. - -And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters... -What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? Who was 'the -other one,' the one whose requiem we now heard sung? - -Erik sang like the god of thunder, sang a DIES IRAE that enveloped us -as in a storm. The elements seemed to rage around us. Suddenly, the -organ and the voice ceased so suddenly that M. de Chagny sprang back, -on the other side of the wall, with emotion. And the voice, changed -and transformed, distinctly grated out these metallic syllables: "WHAT -HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG?" - - - -Chapter XXIII The Tortures Begin - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. - -The voice repeated angrily: "What have you done with my bag? So it -was to take my bag that you asked me to release you!" - -We heard hurried steps, Christine running back to the Louis-Philippe -room, as though to seek shelter on the other side of our wall. - -"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, which had -followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? Don't you know that it -is the bag of life and death?" - -"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we are -to live together ... what difference can it make to you?" - -"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. "What do -you want to do?" - -"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you have -always kept from me ... It's woman's curiosity!" she said, in a tone -which she tried to render playful. - -But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it. - -"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better remember -the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful ... Come, give me back my bag! -... Give me back my bag! ... Leave the key alone, will you, you -inquisitive little thing?" - -And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had -evidently recovered the bag from her. - -At that moment, the viscount could not help uttering an exclamation of -impotent rage. - -"Why, what's that?" said the monster. "Did you hear, Christine?" - -"No, no," replied the poor girl. "I heard nothing." - -"I thought I heard a cry." - -"A cry! Are you going mad, Erik? Whom do you expect to give a cry, in -this house? ... I cried out, because you hurt me! I heard nothing." - -"I don't like the way you said that! ... You're trembling... You're -quite excited ... You're lying! ... That was a cry, there was a cry! -... There is some one in the torture-chamber! ... Ah, I understand -now!" - -"There is no one there, Erik!" - -"I understand!" - -"No one!" - -"The man you want to marry, perhaps!" - -"I don't want to marry anybody, you know I don't." - -Another nasty chuckle. "Well, it won't take long to find out. -Christine, my love, we need not open the door to see what is happening -in the torture-chamber. Would you like to see? Would you like to see? -Look here! If there is some one, if there is really some one there, -you will see the invisible window light up at the top, near the -ceiling. We need only draw the black curtain and put out the light in -here. There, that's it ... Let's put out the light! You're not -afraid of the dark, when you're with your little husband!" - -Then we heard Christine's voice of anguish: - -"No! ... I'm frightened! ... I tell you, I'm afraid of the dark! ... I -don't care about that room now ... You're always frightening me, like -a child, with your torture-chamber! ... And so I became inquisitive... -But I don't care about it now ... not a bit ... not a bit!" - -And that which I feared above all things began, AUTOMATICALLY. We were -suddenly flooded with light! Yes, on our side of the wall, everything -seemed aglow. The Vicomte de Chagny was so much taken aback that he -staggered. And the angry voice roared: - -"I told you there was some one! Do you see the window now? The -lighted window, right up there? The man behind the wall can't see it! -But you shall go up the folding steps: that is what they are there -for! ... You have often asked me to tell you; and now you know! ... -They are there to give a peep into the torture-chamber ... you -inquisitive little thing!" - -"What tortures? ... Who is being tortured? ... Erik, Erik, say you are -only trying to frighten me! ... Say it, if you love me, Erik! ... There -are no tortures, are there?" - -"Go and look at the little window, dear!" - -I do not know if the viscount heard the girl's swooning voice, for he -was too much occupied by the astounding spectacle that now appeared -before his distracted gaze. As for me, I had seen that sight too -often, through the little window, at the time of the rosy hours of -Mazenderan; and I cared only for what was being said next door, seeking -for a hint how to act, what resolution to take. - -"Go and peep through the little window! Tell me what he looks like!" - -We heard the steps being dragged against the wall. - -"Up with you! ... No! ... No, I will go up myself, dear!" - -"Oh, very well, I will go up. Let me go!" - -"Oh, my darling, my darling! ... How sweet of you! ... How nice of you -to save me the exertion at my age! ... Tell me what he looks like!" - -At that moment, we distinctly heard these words above our heads: - -"There is no one there, dear!" - -"No one? ... Are you sure there is no one?" - -"Why, of course not ... no one!" - -"Well, that's all right! ... What's the matter, Christine? You're not -going to faint, are you ... as there is no one there? ... Here ... -come down ... there! ... Pull yourself together ... as there is no one -there! ... BUT HOW DO YOU LIKE THE LANDSCAPE?" - -"Oh, very much!" - -"There, that's better! ... You're better now, are you not? ... That's -all right, you're better! ... No excitement! ... And what a funny -house, isn't it, with landscapes like that in it?" - -"Yes, it's like the Musee Grevin ... But, say, Erik ... there are no -tortures in there! ... What a fright you gave me!" - -"Why ... as there is no one there?" - -"Did you design that room? It's very handsome. You're a great artist, -Erik." - -"Yes, a great artist, in my own line." - -"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?" - -"Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?" - -"I saw a forest." - -"And what is in a forest?" - -"Trees." - -"And what is in a tree?" - -"Birds." - -"Did you see any birds?" - -"No, I did not see any birds." - -"Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are the -branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET! That is why I -call my wood the torture-chamber! ... You see, it's all a joke. I -never express myself like other people. But I am very tired of it! ... -I'm sick and tired of having a forest and a torture-chamber in my house -and of living like a mountebank, in a house with a false bottom! ... -I'm tired of it! I want to have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary -doors and windows and a wife inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom -I could love and take out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days ... -Here, shall I show you some card-tricks? That will help us to pass a -few minutes, while waiting for eleven o'clock to-morrow evening ... My -dear little Christine! ... Are you listening to me? ... Tell me you -love me! ... No, you don't love me ... but no matter, you will! ... -Once, you could not look at my mask because you knew what was behind... -And now you don't mind looking at it and you forget what is behind! ... -One can get used to everything ... if one wishes... Plenty of young -people who did not care for each other before marriage have adored each -other since! Oh, I don't know what I am talking about! But you would -have lots of fun with me. For instance, I am the greatest -ventriloquist that ever lived, I am the first ventriloquist in the -world! ... You're laughing ... Perhaps you don't believe me? Listen." - -The wretch, who really was the first ventriloquist in the world, was -only trying to divert the child's attention from the torture-chamber; -but it was a stupid scheme, for Christine thought of nothing but us! -She repeatedly besought him, in the gentlest tones which she could -assume: - -"Put out the light in the little window! ... Erik, do put out the light -in the little window!" - -For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of which -the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean something -terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment; and that was -seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst of that resplendent -light, alive and well. But she would certainly have felt much easier -if the light had been put out. - -Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. He -said: - -"Here, I raise my mask a little ... Oh, only a little! ... You see my -lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving! ... My mouth is -closed--such mouth as I have--and yet you hear my voice... Where will -you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? In the table? In -those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece? ... Listen, dear, it's in -the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: what does it say? -'SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?' ... And now, crack! What does it say in -the little box on the left? 'SHALL I TURN THE GRASSHOPPER?' ... And -now, crack! Here it is in the little leather bag ... What does it -say? 'I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE AND DEATH!' ... And now, crack! It -is in Carlotta's throat, in Carlotta's golden throat, in Carlotta's -crystal throat, as I live! What does it say? It says, 'It's I, Mr. -Toad, it's I singing! I FEEL WITHOUT ALARM--CO-ACK--WITH ITS MELODY -ENWIND ME--CO-ACK!' ... And now, crack! It is on a chair in the -ghost's box and it says, 'MADAME CARLOTTA IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING -THE CHANDELIER DOWN!' ... And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik's voice -now? Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of -the torture-chamber! Listen! It's myself in the torture-chamber! And -what do I say? I say, 'Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, and -come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!'" - -Oh, the ventriloquist's terrible voice! It was everywhere, everywhere. -It passed through the little invisible window, through the walls. It -ran around us, between us. Erik was there, speaking to us! We made a -movement as though to fling ourselves upon him. But, already, swifter, -more fleeting than the voice of the echo, Erik's voice had leaped back -behind the wall! - -Soon we heard nothing more at all, for this is what happened: - -"Erik! Erik!" said Christine's voice. "You tire me with your voice. -Don't go on, Erik! Isn't it very hot here?" - -"Oh, yes," replied Erik's voice, "the heat is unendurable!" - -"But what does this mean? ... The wall is really getting quite hot! ... -The wall is burning!" - -"I'll tell you, Christine, dear: it is because of the forest next -door." - -"Well, what has that to do with it? The forest?" - -"WHY, DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WAS AN AFRICAN FOREST?" - -And the monster laughed so loudly and hideously that we could no longer -distinguish Christine's supplicating cries! The Vicomte de Chagny -shouted and banged against the walls like a madman. I could not -restrain him. But we heard nothing except the monster's laughter, and -the monster himself can have heard nothing else. And then there was -the sound of a body falling on the floor and being dragged along and a -door slammed and then nothing, nothing more around us save the -scorching silence of the south in the heart of a tropical forest! - - - -Chapter XXIV "Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any Barrels to Sell?" - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -I have said that the room in which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I were -imprisoned was a regular hexagon, lined entirely with mirrors. Plenty -of these rooms have been seen since, mainly at exhibitions: they are -called "palaces of illusion," or some such name. But the invention -belongs entirely to Erik, who built the first room of this kind under -my eyes, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. A decorative -object, such as a column, for instance, was placed in one of the -corners and immediately produced a hall of a thousand columns; for, -thanks to the mirrors, the real room was multiplied by six hexagonal -rooms, each of which, in its turn, was multiplied indefinitely. But -the little sultana soon tired of this infantile illusion, whereupon -Erik altered his invention into a "torture-chamber." For the -architectural motive placed in one corner, he substituted an iron tree. -This tree, with its painted leaves, was absolutely true to life and was -made of iron so as to resist all the attacks of the "patient" who was -locked into the torture-chamber. We shall see how the scene thus -obtained was twice altered instantaneously into two successive other -scenes, by means of the automatic rotation of the drums or rollers in -the corners. These were divided into three sections, fitting into the -angles of the mirrors and each supporting a decorative scheme that came -into sight as the roller revolved upon its axis. - -The walls of this strange room gave the patient nothing to lay hold of, -because, apart from the solid decorative object, they were simply -furnished with mirrors, thick enough to withstand any onslaught of the -victim, who was flung into the chamber empty-handed and barefoot. - -There was no furniture. The ceiling was capable of being lit up. An -ingenious system of electric heating, which has since been imitated, -allowed the temperature of the walls and room to be increased at will. - -I am giving all these details of a perfectly natural invention, -producing, with a few painted branches, the supernatural illusion of an -equatorial forest blazing under the tropical sun, so that no one may -doubt the present balance of my brain or feel entitled to say that I am -mad or lying or that I take him for a fool.[1] - -I now return to the facts where I left them. When the ceiling lit up -and the forest became visible around us, the viscount's stupefaction -was immense. That impenetrable forest, with its innumerable trunks and -branches, threw him into a terrible state of consternation. He passed -his hands over his forehead, as though to drive away a dream; his eyes -blinked; and, for a moment, he forgot to listen. - -I have already said that the sight of the forest did not surprise me at -all; and therefore I listened for the two of us to what was happening -next door. Lastly, my attention was especially attracted, not so much -to the scene, as to the mirrors that produced it. These mirrors were -broken in parts. Yes, they were marked and scratched; they had been -"starred," in spite of their solidity; and this proved to me that the -torture-chamber in which we now were HAD ALREADY SERVED A PURPOSE. - -Yes, some wretch, whose feet were not bare like those of the victims of -the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had certainly fallen into this "mortal -illusion" and, mad with rage, had kicked against those mirrors which, -nevertheless, continued to reflect his agony. And the branch of the -tree on which he had put an end to his own sufferings was arranged in -such a way that, before dying, he had seen, for his last consolation, a -thousand men writhing in his company. - -Yes, Joseph Buquet had undoubtedly been through all this! Were we to -die as he had done? I did not think so, for I knew that we had a few -hours before us and that I could employ them to better purpose than -Joseph Buquet was able to do. After all, I was thoroughly acquainted -with most of Erik's "tricks;" and now or never was the time to turn my -knowledge to account. - -To begin with, I gave up every idea of returning to the passage that -had brought us to that accursed chamber. I did not trouble about the -possibility of working the inside stone that closed the passage; and -this for the simple reason that to do so was out of the question. We -had dropped from too great a height into the torture-chamber; there was -no furniture to help us reach that passage; not even the branch of the -iron tree, not even each other's shoulders were of any avail. - -There was only one possible outlet, that opening into the -Louis-Philippe room in which Erik and Christine Daae were. But, though -this outlet looked like an ordinary door on Christine's side, it was -absolutely invisible to us. We must therefore try to open it without -even knowing where it was. - -When I was quite sure that there was no hope for us from Christine -Daae's side, when I had heard the monster dragging the poor girl from -the Louis-Philippe room LEST SHE SHOULD INTERFERE WITH OUR TORTURES, I -resolved to set to work without delay. - -But I had first to calm M. de Chagny, who was already walking about -like a madman, uttering incoherent cries. The snatches of conversation -which he had caught between Christine and the monster had contributed -not a little to drive him beside himself: add to that the shock of the -magic forest and the scorching heat which was beginning to make the -prespiration{sic} stream down his temples and you will have no -difficulty in understanding his state of mind. He shouted Christine's -name, brandished his pistol, knocked his forehead against the glass in -his endeavors to run down the glades of the illusive forest. In short, -the torture was beginning to work its spell upon a brain unprepared for -it. - -I did my best to induce the poor viscount to listen to reason. I made -him touch the mirrors and the iron tree and the branches and explained -to him, by optical laws, all the luminous imagery by which we were -surrounded and of which we need not allow ourselves to be the victims, -like ordinary, ignorant people. - -"We are in a room, a little room; that is what you must keep saying to -yourself. And we shall leave the room as soon as we have found the -door." - -And I promised him that, if he let me act, without disturbing me by -shouting and walking up and down, I would discover the trick of the -door in less than an hour's time. - -Then he lay flat on the floor, as one does in a wood, and declared that -he would wait until I found the door of the forest, as there was -nothing better to do! And he added that, from where he was, "the view -was splendid!" The torture was working, in spite of all that I had -said. - -Myself, forgetting the forest, I tackled a glass panel and began to -finger it in every direction, hunting for the weak point on which to -press in order to turn the door in accordance with Erik's system of -pivots. This weak point might be a mere speck on the glass, no larger -than a pea, under which the spring lay hidden. I hunted and hunted. I -felt as high as my hands could reach. Erik was about the same height -as myself and I thought that he would not have placed the spring higher -than suited his stature. - -While groping over the successive panels with the greatest care, I -endeavored not to lose a minute, for I was feeling more and more -overcome with the heat and we were literally roasting in that blazing -forest. - -I had been working like this for half an hour and had finished three -panels, when, as ill-luck would have it, I turned round on hearing a -muttered exclamation from the viscount. - -"I am stifling," he said. "All those mirrors are sending out an -infernal heat! Do you think you will find that spring soon? If you -are much longer about it, we shall be roasted alive!" - -I was not sorry to hear him talk like this. He had not said a word of -the forest and I hoped that my companion's reason would hold out some -time longer against the torture. But he added: - -"What consoles me is that the monster has given Christine until eleven -to-morrow evening. If we can't get out of here and go to her -assistance, at least we shall be dead before her! Then Erik's mass can -serve for all of us!" - -And he gulped down a breath of hot air that nearly made him faint. - -As I had not the same desperate reasons as M. le Vicomte for accepting -death, I returned, after giving him a word of encouragement, to my -panel, but I had made the mistake of taking a few steps while speaking -and, in the tangle of the illusive forest, I was no longer able to find -my panel for certain! I had to begin all over again, at random, -feeling, fumbling, groping. - -Now the fever laid hold of me in my turn ... for I found nothing, -absolutely nothing. In the next room, all was silence. We were quite -lost in the forest, without an outlet, a compass, a guide or anything. -Oh, I knew what awaited us if nobody came to our aid ... or if I did -not find the spring! But, look as I might, I found nothing but -branches, beautiful branches that stood straight up before me, or -spread gracefully over my head. But they gave no shade. And this was -natural enough, as we were in an equatorial forest, with the sun right -above our heads, an African forest. - -M. de Chagny and I had repeatedly taken off our coats and put them on -again, finding at one time that they made us feel still hotter and at -another that they protected us against the heat. I was still making a -moral resistance, but M. de Chagny seemed to me quite "gone." He -pretended that he had been walking in that forest for three days and -nights, without stopping, looking for Christine Daae! From time to -time, he thought he saw her behind the trunk of a tree, or gliding -between the branches; and he called to her with words of supplication -that brought the tears to my eyes. And then, at last: - -"Oh, how thirsty I am!" he cried, in delirious accents. - -I too was thirsty. My throat was on fire. And, yet, squatting on the -floor, I went on hunting, hunting, hunting for the spring of the -invisible door ... especially as it was dangerous to remain in the -forest as evening drew nigh. Already the shades of night were -beginning to surround us. It had happened very quickly: night falls -quickly in tropical countries ... suddenly, with hardly any twilight. - -Now night, in the forests of the equator, is always dangerous, -particularly when, like ourselves, one has not the materials for a fire -to keep off the beasts of prey. I did indeed try for a moment to break -off the branches, which I would have lit with my dark lantern, but I -knocked myself also against the mirrors and remembered, in time, that -we had only images of branches to do with. - -The heat did not go with the daylight; on the contrary, it was now -still hotter under the blue rays of the moon. I urged the viscount to -hold our weapons ready to fire and not to stray from camp, while I went -on looking for my spring. - -Suddenly, we heard a lion roaring a few yards away. - -"Oh," whispered the viscount, "he is quite close! ... Don't you see -him? ... There ... through the trees ... in that thicket! If he roars -again, I will fire! ..." - -And the roaring began again, louder than before. And the viscount -fired, but I do not think that he hit the lion; only, he smashed a -mirror, as I perceived the next morning, at daybreak. We must have -covered a good distance during the night, for we suddenly found -ourselves on the edge of the desert, an immense desert of sand, stones -and rocks. It was really not worth while leaving the forest to come -upon the desert. Tired out, I flung myself down beside the viscount, -for I had had enough of looking for springs which I could not find. - -I was quite surprised--and I said so to the viscount--that we had -encountered no other dangerous animals during the night. Usually, -after the lion came the leopard and sometimes the buzz of the tsetse -fly. These were easily obtained effects; and I explained to M. de -Chagny that Erik imitated the roar of a lion on a long tabour or -timbrel, with an ass's skin at one end. Over this skin he tied a -string of catgut, which was fastened at the middle to another similar -string passing through the whole length of the tabour. Erik had only -to rub this string with a glove smeared with resin and, according to -the manner in which he rubbed it, he imitated to perfection the voice -of the lion or the leopard, or even the buzzing of the tsetse fly. - -The idea that Erik was probably in the room beside us, working his -trick, made me suddenly resolve to enter into a parley with him, for we -must obviously give up all thought of taking him by surprise. And by -this time he must be quite aware who were the occupants of his -torture-chamber. I called him: "Erik! Erik!" - -I shouted as loudly as I could across the desert, but there was no -answer to my voice. All around us lay the silence and the bare -immensity of that stony desert. What was to become of us in the midst -of that awful solitude? - -We were beginning literally to die of heat, hunger and thirst ... of -thirst especially. At last, I saw M. de Chagny raise himself on his -elbow and point to a spot on the horizon. He had discovered an oasis! - -Yes, far in the distance was an oasis ... an oasis with limpid water, -which reflected the iron trees! ... Tush, it was the scene of the -mirage ... I recognized it at once ... the worst of the three! ... No -one had been able to fight against it ... no one... I did my utmost to -keep my head AND NOT TO HOPE FOR WATER, because I knew that, if a man -hoped for water, the water that reflected the iron tree, and if, after -hoping for water, he struck against the mirror, then there was only one -thing for him to do: to hang himself on the iron tree! - -So I cried to M. de Chagny: - -"It's the mirage! ... It's the mirage! ... Don't believe in the water! -... It's another trick of the mirrors! ..." - -Then he flatly told me to shut up, with my tricks of the mirrors, my -springs, my revolving doors and my palaces of illusions! He angrily -declared that I must be either blind or mad to imagine that all that -water flowing over there, among those splendid, numberless trees, was -not real water! ... And the desert was real! ... And so was the -forest! ... And it was no use trying to take him in ... he was an old, -experienced traveler ... he had been all over the place! - -And he dragged himself along, saying: "Water! Water!" - -And his mouth was open, as though he were drinking. - -And my mouth was open too, as though I were drinking. - -For we not only saw the water, but WE HEARD IT! ... We heard it flow, -we heard it ripple! ... Do you understand that word "ripple?" ... IT IS -A SOUND WHICH YOU HEAR WITH YOUR TONGUE! ... You put your tongue out -of your mouth to listen to it better! - -Lastly--and this was the most pitiless torture of all--we heard the -rain and it was not raining! This was an infernal invention... Oh, I -knew well enough how Erik obtained it! He filled with little stones a -very long and narrow box, broken up inside with wooden and metal -projections. The stones, in falling, struck against these projections -and rebounded from one to another; and the result was a series of -pattering sounds that exactly imitated a rainstorm. - -Ah, you should have seen us putting out our tongues and dragging -ourselves toward the rippling river-bank! Our eyes and ears were full -of water, but our tongues were hard and dry as horn! - -When we reached the mirror, M. de Chagny licked it ... and I also -licked the glass. - -It was burning hot! - -Then we rolled on the floor with a hoarse cry of despair. M. de Chagny -put the one pistol that was still loaded to his temple; and I stared at -the Punjab lasso at the foot of the iron tree. I knew why the iron -tree had returned, in this third change of scene! ... The iron tree -was waiting for me! ... - -But, as I stared at the Punjab lasso, I saw a thing that made me start -so violently that M. de Chagny delayed his attempt at suicide. I took -his arm. And then I caught the pistol from him ... and then I dragged -myself on my knees toward what I had seen. - -I had discovered, near the Punjab lasso, in a groove in the floor, a -black-headed nail of which I knew the use. At last I had discovered -the spring! I felt the nail ... I lifted a radiant face to M. de -Chagny ... The black-headed nail yielded to my pressure ... - -And then ... - -And then we saw not a door opened in the wall, but a cellar-flap -released in the floor. Cool air came up to us from the black hole -below. We stooped over that square of darkness as though over a limpid -well. With our chins in the cool shade, we drank it in. And we bent -lower and lower over the trap-door. What could there be in that cellar -which opened before us? Water? Water to drink? - -I thrust my arm into the darkness and came upon a stone and another -stone ... a staircase ... a dark staircase leading into the cellar. -The viscount wanted to fling himself down the hole; but I, fearing a -new trick of the monster's, stopped him, turned on my dark lantern and -went down first. - -The staircase was a winding one and led down into pitchy darkness. But -oh, how deliciously cool were the darkness and the stairs? The lake -could not be far away. - -We soon reached the bottom. Our eyes were beginning to accustom -themselves to the dark, to distinguish shapes around us ... circular -shapes ... on which I turned the light of my lantern. - -Barrels! - -We were in Erik's cellar: it was here that he must keep his wine and -perhaps his drinking-water. I knew that Erik was a great lover of good -wine. Ah, there was plenty to drink here! - -M. de Chagny patted the round shapes and kept on saying: - -"Barrels! Barrels! What a lot of barrels! ..." - -Indeed, there was quite a number of them, symmetrically arranged in two -rows, one on either side of us. They were small barrels and I thought -that Erik must have selected them of that size to facilitate their -carriage to the house on the lake. - -We examined them successively, to see if one of them had not a funnel, -showing that it had been tapped at some time or another. But all the -barrels were hermetically closed. - -Then, after half lifting one to make sure it was full, we went on our -knees and, with the blade of a small knife which I carried, I prepared -to stave in the bung-hole. - -At that moment, I seemed to hear, coming from very far, a sort of -monotonous chant which I knew well, from often hearing it in the -streets of Paris: - -"Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any barrels to sell?" - -My hand desisted from its work. M. de Chagny had also heard. He said: - -"That's funny! It sounds as if the barrel were singing!" - -The song was renewed, farther away: - -"Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any barrels to sell? ..." - -"Oh, I swear," said the viscount, "that the tune dies away in the -barrel! ..." - -We stood up and went to look behind the barrel. - -"It's inside," said M. de Chagny, "it's inside!" - -But we heard nothing there and were driven to accuse the bad condition -of our senses. And we returned to the bung-hole. M. de Chagny put his -two hands together underneath it and, with a last effort, I burst the -bung. - -"What's this?" cried the viscount. "This isn't water!" - -The viscount put his two full hands close to my lantern ... I stooped -to look ... and at once threw away the lantern with such violence that -it broke and went out, leaving us in utter darkness. - -What I had seen in M. de Chagny's hands ... was gun-powder! - - - -[1] It is very natural that, at the time when the Persian was writing, -he should take so many precautions against any spirit of incredulity on -the part of those who were likely to read his narrative. Nowadays, -when we have all seen this sort of room, his precautions would be -superfluous. - - - - -Chapter XXV The Scorpion or the Grasshopper: Which? - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONCLUDED - -The discovery flung us into a state of alarm that made us forget all -our past and present sufferings. We now knew all that the monster -meant to convey when he said to Christine Daae: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -Yes, buried under the ruins of the Paris Grand Opera! - -The monster had given her until eleven o'clock in the evening. He had -chosen his time well. There would be many people, many "members of the -human race," up there, in the resplendent theater. What finer retinue -could be expected for his funeral? He would go down to the tomb -escorted by the whitest shoulders in the world, decked with the richest -jewels. - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -We were all to be blown up in the middle of the performance ... if -Christine Daae said no! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! ... - -And what else could Christine say but no? Would she not prefer to -espouse death itself rather than that living corpse? She did not know -that on her acceptance or refusal depended the awful fate of many -members of the human race! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -And we dragged ourselves through the darkness, feeling our way to the -stone steps, for the light in the trap-door overhead that led to the -room of mirrors was now extinguished; and we repeated to ourselves: - -"Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!" - -At last, I found the staircase. But, suddenly I drew myself up on the -first step, for a terrible thought had come to my mind: - -"What is the time?" - -Ah, what was the time? ... For, after all, eleven o'clock to-morrow -evening might be now, might be this very moment! Who could tell us the -time? We seemed to have been imprisoned in that hell for days and days -... for years ... since the beginning of the world. Perhaps we should -be blown up then and there! Ah, a sound! A crack! "Did you hear -that? ... There, in the corner ... good heavens! ... Like a sound of -machinery! ... Again! ... Oh, for a light! ... Perhaps it's the -machinery that is to blow everything up! ... I tell you, a cracking -sound: are you deaf?" - -M. de Chagny and I began to yell like madmen. Fear spurred us on. We -rushed up the treads of the staircase, stumbling as we went, anything -to escape the dark, to return to the mortal light of the room of -mirrors! - -We found the trap-door still open, but it was now as dark in the room -of mirrors as in the cellar which we had left. We dragged ourselves -along the floor of the torture-chamber, the floor that separated us -from the powder-magazine. What was the time? We shouted, we called: M. -de Chagny to Christine, I to Erik. I reminded him that I had saved his -life. But no answer, save that of our despair, of our madness: what -was the time? We argued, we tried to calculate the time which we had -spent there, but we were incapable of reasoning. If only we could see -the face of a watch! ... Mine had stopped, but M. de Chagny's was -still going ... He told me that he had wound it up before dressing for -the Opera ... We had not a match upon us ... And yet we must know ... -M. de Chagny broke the glass of his watch and felt the two hands... He -questioned the hands of the watch with his finger-tips, going by the -position of the ring of the watch ... Judging by the space between the -hands, he thought it might be just eleven o'clock! - -But perhaps it was not the eleven o'clock of which we stood in dread. -Perhaps we had still twelve hours before us! - -Suddenly, I exclaimed: "Hush!" - -I seemed to hear footsteps in the next room. Some one tapped against -the wall. Christine Daae's voice said: - -"Raoul! Raoul!" We were now all talking at once, on either side of -the wall. Christine sobbed; she was not sure that she would find M. de -Chagny alive. The monster had been terrible, it seemed, had done -nothing but rave, waiting for her to give him the "yes" which she -refused. And yet she had promised him that "yes," if he would take her -to the torture-chamber. But he had obstinately declined, and had -uttered hideous threats against all the members of the human race! At -last, after hours and hours of that hell, he had that moment gone out, -leaving her alone to reflect for the last time. - -"Hours and hours? What is the time now? What is the time, Christine?" - -"It is eleven o'clock! Eleven o'clock, all but five minutes!" - -"But which eleven o'clock?" - -"The eleven o'clock that is to decide life or death! ... He told me so -just before he went ... He is terrible ... He is quite mad: he tore -off his mask and his yellow eyes shot flames! ... He did nothing but -laugh! ... He said, 'I give you five minutes to spare your blushes! -Here,' he said, taking a key from the little bag of life and death, -'here is the little bronze key that opens the two ebony caskets on the -mantelpiece in the Louis-Philippe room... In one of the caskets, you -will find a scorpion, in the other, a grasshopper, both very cleverly -imitated in Japanese bronze: they will say yes or no for you. If you -turn the scorpion round, that will mean to me, when I return, that you -have said yes. The grasshopper will mean no.' And he laughed like a -drunken demon. I did nothing but beg and entreat him to give me the -key of the torture-chamber, promising to be his wife if he granted me -that request ... But he told me that there was no future need for that -key and that he was going to throw it into the lake! ... And he again -laughed like a drunken demon and left me. Oh, his last words were, -'The grasshopper! Be careful of the grasshopper! A grasshopper does -not only turn: it hops! It hops! And it hops jolly high!'" - -The five minutes had nearly elapsed and the scorpion and the -grasshopper were scratching at my brain. Nevertheless, I had -sufficient lucidity left to understand that, if the grasshopper were -turned, it would hop ... and with it many members of the human race! -There was no doubt but that the grasshopper controlled an electric -current intended to blow up the powder-magazine! - -M. de Chagny, who seemed to have recovered all his moral force from -hearing Christine's voice, explained to her, in a few hurried words, -the situation in which we and all the Opera were. He told her to turn -the scorpion at once. - -There was a pause. - -"Christine," I cried, "where are you?" - -"By the scorpion." - -"Don't touch it!" - -The idea had come to me--for I knew my Erik--that the monster had -perhaps deceived the girl once more. Perhaps it was the scorpion that -would blow everything up. After all, why wasn't he there? The five -minutes were long past ... and he was not back... Perhaps he had taken -shelter and was waiting for the explosion! ... Why had he not -returned? ... He could not really expect Christine ever to consent to -become his voluntary prey! ... Why had he not returned? - -"Don't touch the scorpion!" I said. - -"Here he comes!" cried Christine. "I hear him! Here he is!" - -We heard his steps approaching the Louis-Philippe room. He came up to -Christine, but did not speak. Then I raised my voice: - -"Erik! It is I! Do you know me?" - -With extraordinary calmness, he at once replied: - -"So you are not dead in there? Well, then, see that you keep quiet." - -I tried to speak, but he said coldly: - -"Not a word, daroga, or I shall blow everything up." And he added, -"The honor rests with mademoiselle ... Mademoiselle has not touched -the scorpion"--how deliberately he spoke!--"mademoiselle has not -touched the grasshopper"--with that composure!--"but it is not too late -to do the right thing. There, I open the caskets without a key, for I -am a trap-door lover and I open and shut what I please and as I please. -I open the little ebony caskets: mademoiselle, look at the little dears -inside. Aren't they pretty? If you turn the grasshopper, -mademoiselle, we shall all be blown up. There is enough gun-powder -under our feet to blow up a whole quarter of Paris. If you turn the -scorpion, mademoiselle, all that powder will be soaked and drowned. -Mademoiselle, to celebrate our wedding, you shall make a very handsome -present to a few hundred Parisians who are at this moment applauding a -poor masterpiece of Meyerbeer's ... you shall make them a present of -their lives ... For, with your own fair hands, you shall turn the -scorpion ... And merrily, merrily, we will be married!" - -A pause; and then: - -"If, in two minutes, mademoiselle, you have not turned the scorpion, I -shall turn the grasshopper ... and the grasshopper, I tell you, HOPS -JOLLY HIGH!" - -The terrible silence began anew. The Vicomte de Chagny, realizing that -there was nothing left to do but pray, went down on his knees and -prayed. As for me, my blood beat so fiercely that I had to take my -heart in both hands, lest it should burst. At last, we heard Erik's -voice: - -"The two minutes are past ... Good-by, mademoiselle... Hop, -grasshopper! "Erik," cried Christine, "do you swear to me, monster, do -you swear to me that the scorpion is the one to turn? - -"Yes, to hop at our wedding." - -"Ah, you see! You said, to hop!" - -"At our wedding, ingenuous child! ... The scorpion opens the ball... -But that will do! ... You won't have the scorpion? Then I turn the -grasshopper!" - -"Erik!" - -"Enough!" - -I was crying out in concert with Christine. M. de Chagny was still on -his knees, praying. - -"Erik! I have turned the scorpion!" - -Oh, the second through which we passed! - -Waiting! Waiting to find ourselves in fragments, amid the roar and the -ruins! - -Feeling something crack beneath our feet, hearing an appalling hiss -through the open trap-door, a hiss like the first sound of a rocket! - -It came softly, at first, then louder, then very loud. But it was not -the hiss of fire. It was more like the hiss of water. And now it -became a gurgling sound: "Guggle! Guggle!" - -We rushed to the trap-door. All our thirst, which vanished when the -terror came, now returned with the lapping of the water. - -The water rose in the cellar, above the barrels, the -powder-barrels--"Barrels! ... Barrels! Any barrels to sell?"--and we -went down to it with parched throats. It rose to our chins, to our -mouths. And we drank. We stood on the floor of the cellar and drank. -And we went up the stairs again in the dark, step by step, went up with -the water. - -The water came out of the cellar with us and spread over the floor of -the room. If, this went on, the whole house on the lake would be -swamped. The floor of the torture-chamber had itself become a regular -little lake, in which our feet splashed. Surely there was water enough -now! Erik must turn off the tap! - -"Erik! Erik! That is water enough for the gunpowder! Turn off the -tap! Turn off the scorpion!" - -But Erik did not reply. We heard nothing but the water rising: it was -half-way to our waists! - -"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny. "Christine! The water is up to our -knees!" - -But Christine did not reply ... We heard nothing but the water rising. - -No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one to turn -the scorpion! - -We were all alone, in the dark, with the dark water that seized us and -clasped us and froze us! - -"Erik! Erik!" - -"Christine! Christine!" - -By this time, we had lost our foothold and were spinning round in the -water, carried away by an irresistible whirl, for the water turned with -us and dashed us against the dark mirror, which thrust us back again; -and our throats, raised above the whirlpool, roared aloud. - -Were we to die here, drowned in the torture-chamber? I had never seen -that. Erik, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had never -shown me that, through the little invisible window. - -"Erik! Erik!" I cried. "I saved your life! Remember! ... You were -sentenced to death! But for me, you would be dead now! ... Erik!" - -We whirled around in the water like so much wreckage. But, suddenly, -my straying hands seized the trunk of the iron tree! I called M. de -Chagny, and we both hung to the branch of the iron tree. - -And the water rose still higher. - -"Oh! Oh! Can you remember? How much space is there between the -branch of the tree and the dome-shaped ceiling? Do try to remember! -... After all, the water may stop, it must find its level! ... There, -I think it is stopping! ... No, no, oh, horrible! ... Swim! Swim for -your life!" - -Our arms became entangled in the effort of swimming; we choked; we -fought in the dark water; already we could hardly breathe the dark air -above the dark water, the air which escaped, which we could hear -escaping through some vent-hole or other. - -"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole and then -glue our mouths to it!" - -But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! Oh, how -those glass walls slipped from under my groping fingers! ... We whirled -round again! ... We began to sink! ... One last effort! ... A last -cry: "Erik! ... Christine! ..." - -"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the -bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!" - -And, before losing consciousness entirely, I seemed to hear, between -two guggles: - -"Barrels! Barrels! Any barrels to sell?" - - - -Chapter XXVI The End of the Ghost's Love Story - - -The previous chapter marks the conclusion of the written narrative -which the Persian left behind him. - -Notwithstanding the horrors of a situation which seemed definitely to -abandon them to their deaths, M. de Chagny and his companion were saved -by the sublime devotion of Christine Daae. And I had the rest of the -story from the lips of the daroga himself. - -When I went to see him, he was still living in his little flat in the -Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries. He was very ill, and it -required all my ardor as an historian pledged to the truth to persuade -him to live the incredible tragedy over again for my benefit. His -faithful old servant Darius showed me in to him. The daroga received -me at a window overlooking the garden of the Tuileries. He still had -his magnificent eyes, but his poor face looked very worn. He had -shaved the whole of his head, which was usually covered with an -astrakhan cap; he was dressed in a long, plain coat and amused himself -by unconsciously twisting his thumbs inside the sleeves; but his mind -was quite clear, and he told me his story with perfect lucidity. - -It seems that, when he opened his eyes, the daroga found himself lying -on a bed. M. de Chagny was on a sofa, beside the wardrobe. An angel -and a devil were watching over them. - -After the deceptions and illusions of the torture-chamber, the -precision of the details of that quiet little middle-class room seemed -to have been invented for the express purpose of puzzling the mind of -the mortal rash enough to stray into that abode of living nightmare. -The wooden bedstead, the waxed mahogany chairs, the chest of drawers, -those brasses, the little square antimacassars carefully placed on the -backs of the chairs, the clock on the mantelpiece and the -harmless-looking ebony caskets at either end, lastly, the whatnot -filled with shells, with red pin-cushions, with mother-of-pearl boats -and an enormous ostrich-egg, the whole discreetly lighted by a shaded -lamp standing on a small round table: this collection of ugly, -peaceable, reasonable furniture, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OPERA CELLARS, -bewildered the imagination more than all the late fantastic happenings. - -And the figure of the masked man seemed all the more formidable in this -old-fashioned, neat and trim little frame. It bent down over the -Persian and said, in his ear: - -"Are you better, daroga? ... You are looking at my furniture? ... It -is all that I have left of my poor unhappy mother." - -Christine Daae did not say a word: she moved about noiselessly, like a -sister of charity, who had taken a vow of silence. She brought a cup -of cordial, or of hot tea, he did not remember which. The man in the -mask took it from her hands and gave it to the Persian. M. de Chagny -was still sleeping. - -Erik poured a drop of rum into the daroga's cup and, pointing to the -viscount, said: - -"He came to himself long before we knew if you were still alive, -daroga. He is quite well. He is asleep. We must not wake him." - -Erik left the room for a moment, and the Persian raised himself on his -elbow, looked around him and saw Christine Daae sitting by the -fireside. He spoke to her, called her, but he was still very weak and -fell back on his pillow. Christine came to him, laid her hand on his -forehead and went away again. And the Persian remembered that, as she -went, she did not give a glance at M. de Chagny, who, it is true, was -sleeping peacefully; and she sat down again in her chair by the -chimney-corner, silent as a sister of charity who had taken a vow of -silence. - -Erik returned with some little bottles which he placed on the -mantelpiece. And, again in a whisper, so as not to wake M. de Chagny, -he said to the Persian, after sitting down and feeling his pulse: - -"You are now saved, both of you. And soon I shall take you up to the -surface of the earth, TO PLEASE MY WIFE." - -Thereupon he rose, without any further explanation, and disappeared -once more. - -The Persian now looked at Christine's quiet profile under the lamp. -She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book. -There are editions of THE IMITATION that look like that. The Persian -still had in his ears the natural tone in which the other had said, "to -please my wife." Very gently, he called her again; but Christine was -wrapped up in her book and did not hear him. - -Erik returned, mixed the daroga a draft and advised him not to speak to -"his wife" again nor to any one, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUS TO -EVERYBODY'S HEALTH. - -Eventually, the Persian fell asleep, like M. de Chagny, and did not -wake until he was in his own room, nursed by his faithful Darius, who -told him that, on the night before, he was found propped against the -door of his flat, where he had been brought by a stranger, who rang the -bell before going away. - -As soon as the daroga recovered his strength and his wits, he sent to -Count Philippe's house to inquire after the viscount's health. The -answer was that the young man had not been seen and that Count Philippe -was dead. His body was found on the bank of the Opera lake, on the -Rue-Scribe side. The Persian remembered the requiem mass which he had -heard from behind the wall of the torture-chamber, and had no doubt -concerning the crime and the criminal. Knowing Erik as he did, he -easily reconstructed the tragedy. Thinking that his brother had run -away with Christine Daae, Philippe had dashed in pursuit of him along -the Brussels Road, where he knew that everything was prepared for the -elopement. Failing to find the pair, he hurried back to the Opera, -remembered Raoul's strange confidence about his fantastic rival and -learned that the viscount had made every effort to enter the cellars of -the theater and that he had disappeared, leaving his hat in the prima -donna's dressing-room beside an empty pistol-case. And the count, who -no longer entertained any doubt of his brother's madness, in his turn -darted into that infernal underground maze. This was enough, in the -Persian's eyes, to explain the discovery of the Comte de Chagny's -corpse on the shore of the lake, where the siren, Erik's siren, kept -watch. - -The Persian did not hesitate. He determined to inform the police. Now -the case was in the hands of an examining-magistrate called Faure, an -incredulous, commonplace, superficial sort of person, (I write as I -think), with a mind utterly unprepared to receive a confidence of this -kind. M. Faure took down the daroga's depositions and proceeded to -treat him as a madman. - -Despairing of ever obtaining a hearing, the Persian sat down to write. -As the police did not want his evidence, perhaps the press would be -glad of it; and he had just written the last line of the narrative I -have quoted in the preceding chapters, when Darius announced the visit -of a stranger who refused his name, who would not show his face and -declared simply that he did not intend to leave the place until he had -spoken to the daroga. - -The Persian at once felt who his singular visitor was and ordered him -to be shown in. The daroga was right. It was the ghost, it was Erik! - -He looked extremely weak and leaned against the wall, as though he were -afraid of falling. Taking off his hat, he revealed a forehead white as -wax. The rest of the horrible face was hidden by the mask. - -The Persian rose to his feet as Erik entered. - -"Murderer of Count Philippe, what have you done with his brother and -Christine Daae?" - -Erik staggered under this direct attack, kept silent for a moment, -dragged himself to a chair and heaved a deep sigh. Then, speaking in -short phrases and gasping for breath between the words: - -"Daroga, don't talk to me ... about Count Philippe ... He was dead ... -by the time ... I left my house ... he was dead ... when ... the siren -sang ... It was an ... accident ... a sad ... a very sad ... accident. -He fell very awkwardly ... but simply and naturally ... into the lake! -..." - -"You lie!" shouted the Persian. - -Erik bowed his head and said: - -"I have not come here ... to talk about Count Philippe ... but to tell -you that ... I am going ... to die..." - -"Where are Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"I am going to die." - -"Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"Of love ... daroga ... I am dying ... of love ... That is how it is -... loved her so! ... And I love her still ... daroga ... and I am -dying of love for her, I ... I tell you! ... If you knew how beautiful -she was ... when she let me kiss her ... alive ... It was the first -... time, daroga, the first ... time I ever kissed a woman ... Yes, -alive ... I kissed her alive ... and she looked as beautiful as if she -had been dead!" - -The Persian shook Erik by the arm: - -"Will you tell me if she is alive or dead." - -"Why do you shake me like that?" asked Erik, making an effort to speak -more connectedly. "I tell you that I am going to die... Yes, I kissed -her alive ..." - -"And now she is dead?" - -"I tell you I kissed her just like that, on her forehead ... and she -did not draw back her forehead from my lips! ... Oh, she is a good -girl! ... As to her being dead, I don't think so; but it has nothing to -do with me ... No, no, she is not dead! And no one shall touch a hair -of her head! She is a good, honest girl, and she saved your life, -daroga, at a moment when I would not have given twopence for your -Persian skin. As a matter of fact, nobody bothered about you. Why -were you there with that little chap? You would have died as well as -he! My word, how she entreated me for her little chap! But I told her -that, as she had turned the scorpion, she had, through that very fact, -and of her own free will, become engaged to me and that she did not -need to have two men engaged to her, which was true enough. - -"As for you, you did not exist, you had ceased to exist, I tell you, -and you were going to die with the other! ... Only, mark me, daroga, -when you were yelling like the devil, because of the water, Christine -came to me with her beautiful blue eyes wide open, and swore to me, as -she hoped to be saved, that she consented to be MY LIVING WIFE! ... -Until then, in the depths of her eyes, daroga, I had always seen my -dead wife; it was the first time I saw MY LIVING WIFE there. She was -sincere, as she hoped to be saved. She would not kill herself. It was -a bargain ... Half a minute later, all the water was back in the lake; -and I had a hard job with you, daroga, for, upon my honor, I thought -you were done for! ... However! ... There you were! ... It was -understood that I was to take you both up to the surface of the earth. -When, at last, I cleared the Louis-Philippe room of you, I came back -alone ..." - -"What have you done with the Vicomte de Chagny?" asked the Persian, -interrupting him. - -"Ah, you see, daroga, I couldn't carry HIM up like that, at once. ... -He was a hostage ... But I could not keep him in the house on the -lake, either, because of Christine; so I locked him up comfortably, I -chained him up nicely--a whiff of the Mazenderan scent had left him as -limp as a rag--in the Communists' dungeon, which is in the most -deserted and remote part of the Opera, below the fifth cellar, where no -one ever comes, and where no one ever hears you. Then I came back to -Christine, she was waiting for me." - -Erik here rose solemnly. Then he continued, but, as he spoke, he was -overcome by all his former emotion and began to tremble like a leaf: - -"Yes, she was waiting for me ... waiting for me erect and alive, a -real, living bride ... as she hoped to be saved ... And, when I ... -came forward, more timid than ... a little child, she did not run away -... no, no ... she stayed ... she waited for me ... I even believe ... -daroga ... that she put out her forehead ... a little ... oh, not much -... just a little ... like a living bride ... And ... and ... I ... -kissed her! ... I! ... I! ... I! ... And she did not die! ... Oh, how -good it is, daroga, to kiss somebody on the forehead! ... You can't -tell! ... But I! I! ... My mother, daroga, my poor, unhappy mother -would never ... let me kiss her ... She used to run away ... and throw -me my mask! ... Nor any other woman ... ever, ever! ... Ah, you can -understand, my happiness was so great, I cried. And I fell at her -feet, crying ... and I kissed her feet ... her little feet ... crying. -You're crying, too, daroga ... and she cried also ... the angel cried! -..." Erik sobbed aloud and the Persian himself could not retain his -tears in the presence of that masked man, who, with his shoulders -shaking and his hands clutched at his chest, was moaning with pain and -love by turns. - -"Yes, daroga ... I felt her tears flow on my forehead ... on mine, -mine! ... They were soft ... they were sweet! ... They trickled under -my mask ... they mingled with my tears in my eyes ... yes ... they -flowed between my lips ... Listen, daroga, listen to what I did ... I -tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears ... and she did not -run away! ... And she did not die! ... She remained alive, weeping -over me, with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness -the world can offer!" - -And Erik fell into a chair, choking for breath: - -"Ah, I am not going to die yet ... presently I shall ... but let me -cry! ... Listen, daroga ... listen to this ... While I was at her feet -... I heard her say, 'Poor, unhappy Erik!' ... AND SHE TOOK MY HAND! -... I had become no more, you know, than a poor dog ready to die for -her ... I mean it, daroga! ... I held in my hand a ring, a plain gold -ring which I had given her ... which she had lost ... and which I had -found again ... a wedding-ring, you know ... I slipped it into her -little hand and said, 'There! ... Take it! ... Take it for you ... and -him! ... It shall be my wedding-present a present from your poor, -unhappy Erik ... I know you love the boy ... don't cry any more! ... -She asked me, in a very soft voice, what I meant ... Then I made her -understand that, where she was concerned, I was only a poor dog, ready -to die for her ... but that she could marry the young man when she -pleased, because she had cried with me and mingled her tears with mine! -..." - -Erik's emotion was so great that he had to tell the Persian not to look -at him, for he was choking and must take off his mask. The daroga went -to the window and opened it. His heart was full of pity, but he took -care to keep his eyes fixed on the trees in the Tuileries gardens, lest -he should see the monster's face. - -"I went and released the young man," Erik continued, "and told him to -come with me to Christine ... They kissed before me in the -Louis-Philippe room ... Christine had my ring ... I made Christine -swear to come back, one night, when I was dead, crossing the lake from -the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest secrecy with the gold -ring, which she was to wear until that moment. ... I told her where -she would find my body and what to do with it... Then Christine kissed -me, for the first time, herself, here, on the forehead--don't look, -daroga!--here, on the forehead ... on my forehead, mine--don't look, -daroga!--and they went off together... Christine had stopped crying -... I alone cried ... Daroga, daroga, if Christine keeps her promise, -she will come back soon! ..." - -The Persian asked him no questions. He was quite reassured as to the -fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could have doubted the -word of the weeping Erik that night. - -The monster resumed his mask and collected his strength to leave the -daroga. He told him that, when he felt his end to be very near at -hand, he would send him, in gratitude for the kindness which the -Persian had once shown him, that which he held dearest in the world: -all Christine Daae's papers, which she had written for Raoul's benefit -and left with Erik, together with a few objects belonging to her, such -as a pair of gloves, a shoe-buckle and two pocket-handkerchiefs. In -reply to the Persian's questions, Erik told him that the two young -people, at soon as they found themselves free, had resolved to go and -look for a priest in some lonely spot where they could hide their -happiness and that, with this object in view, they had started from -"the northern railway station of the world." Lastly, Erik relied on -the Persian, as soon as he received the promised relics and papers, to -inform the young couple of his death and to advertise it in the EPOQUE. - -That was all. The Persian saw Erik to the door of his flat, and Darius -helped him down to the street. A cab was waiting for him. Erik -stepped in; and the Persian, who had gone back to the window, heard him -say to the driver: - -"Go to the Opera." - -And the cab drove off into the night. - -The Persian had seen the poor, unfortunate Erik for the last time. -Three weeks later, the Epoque published this advertisement: - -"Erik is dead." - - - -Epilogue. - - -I have now told the singular, but veracious story of the Opera ghost. -As I declared on the first page of this work, it is no longer possible -to deny that Erik really lived. There are to-day so many proofs of his -existence within the reach of everybody that we can follow Erik's -actions logically through the whole tragedy of the Chagnys. - -There is no need to repeat here how greatly the case excited the -capital. The kidnapping of the artist, the death of the Comte de -Chagny under such exceptional conditions, the disappearance of his -brother, the drugging of the gas-man at the Opera and of his two -assistants: what tragedies, what passions, what crimes had surrounded -the idyll of Raoul and the sweet and charming Christine! ... What had -become of that wonderful, mysterious artist of whom the world was -never, never to hear again? ... She was represented as the victim of a -rivalry between the two brothers; and nobody suspected what had really -happened, nobody understood that, as Raoul and Christine had both -disappeared, both had withdrawn far from the world to enjoy a happiness -which they would not have cared to make public after the inexplicable -death of Count Philippe ... They took the train one day from "the -northern railway station of the world." ... Possibly, I too shall take -the train at that station, one day, and go and seek around thy lakes, O -Norway, O silent Scandinavia, for the perhaps still living traces of -Raoul and Christine and also of Mamma Valerius, who disappeared at the -same time! ... Possibly, some day, I shall hear the lonely echoes of -the North repeat the singing of her who knew the Angel of Music! ... - -Long after the case was pigeonholed by the unintelligent care of M. le -Juge d'Instruction Faure, the newspapers made efforts, at intervals, to -fathom the mystery. One evening paper alone, which knew all the gossip -of the theaters, said: - -"We recognize the touch of the Opera ghost." - -And even that was written by way of irony. - -The Persian alone knew the whole truth and held the main proofs, which -came to him with the pious relics promised by the ghost. It fell to my -lot to complete those proofs with the aid of the daroga himself. Day -by day, I kept him informed of the progress of my inquiries; and he -directed them. He had not been to the Opera for years and years, but -he had preserved the most accurate recollection of the building, and -there was no better guide than he possible to help me discover its most -secret recesses. He also told me where to gather further information, -whom to ask; and he sent me to call on M. Poligny, at a moment when the -poor man was nearly drawing his last breath. I had no idea that he was -so very ill, and I shall never forget the effect which my questions -about the ghost produced upon him. He looked at me as if I were the -devil and answered only in a few incoherent sentences, which showed, -however--and that was the main thing--the extent of the perturbation -which O. G., in his time, had brought into that already very restless -life (for M. Poligny was what people call a man of pleasure). - -When I came and told the Persian of the poor result of my visit to M. -Poligny, the daroga gave a faint smile and said: - -"Poligny never knew how far that extraordinary blackguard of an Erik -humbugged him."--The Persian, by the way, spoke of Erik sometimes as a -demigod and sometimes as the lowest of the low--"Poligny was -superstitious and Erik knew it. Erik knew most things about the public -and private affairs of the Opera. When M. Poligny heard a mysterious -voice tell him, in Box Five, of the manner in which he used to spend -his time and abuse his partner's confidence, he did not wait to hear -any more. Thinking at first that it was a voice from Heaven, he -believed himself damned; and then, when the voice began to ask for -money, he saw that he was being victimized by a shrewd blackmailer to -whom Debienne himself had fallen a prey. Both of them, already tired -of management for various reasons, went away without trying to -investigate further into the personality of that curious O. G., who had -forced such a singular memorandum-book upon them. They bequeathed the -whole mystery to their successors and heaved a sigh of relief when they -were rid of a business that had puzzled them without amusing them in -the least." - -I then spoke of the two successors and expressed my surprise that, in -his Memoirs of a Manager, M. Moncharmin should describe the Opera -ghost's behavior at such length in the first part of the book and -hardly mention it at all in the second. In reply to this, the Persian, -who knew the MEMOIRS as thoroughly as if he had written them himself, -observed that I should find the explanation of the whole business if I -would just recollect the few lines which Moncharmin devotes to the -ghost in the second part aforesaid. I quote these lines, which are -particularly interesting because they describe the very simple manner -in which the famous incident of the twenty-thousand francs was closed: - -"As for O. G., some of whose curious tricks I have related in the first -part of my Memoirs, I will only say that he redeemed by one spontaneous -fine action all the worry which he had caused my dear friend and -partner and, I am bound to say, myself. He felt, no doubt, that there -are limits to a joke, especially when it is so expensive and when the -commissary of police has been informed, for, at the moment when we had -made an appointment in our office with M. Mifroid to tell him the whole -story, a few days after the disappearance of Christine Daae, we found, -on Richard's table, a large envelope, inscribed, in red ink, "WITH O. -G.'S COMPLIMENTS." It contained the large sum of money which he had -succeeded in playfully extracting, for the time being, from the -treasury. Richard was at once of the opinion that we must be content -with that and drop the business. I agreed with Richard. All's well -that ends well. What do you say, O. G.?" - -Of course, Moncharmin, especially after the money had been restored, -continued to believe that he had, for a short while, been the butt of -Richard's sense of humor, whereas Richard, on his side, was convinced -that Moncharmin had amused himself by inventing the whole of the affair -of the Opera ghost, in order to revenge himself for a few jokes. - -I asked the Persian to tell me by what trick the ghost had taken -twenty-thousand francs from Richard's pocket in spite of the -safety-pin. He replied that he had not gone into this little detail, -but that, if I myself cared to make an investigation on the spot, I -should certainly find the solution to the riddle in the managers' -office by remembering that Erik had not been nicknamed the trap-door -lover for nothing. I promised the Persian to do so as soon as I had -time, and I may as well tell the reader at once that the results of my -investigation were perfectly satisfactory; and I hardly believed that I -should ever discover so many undeniable proofs of the authenticity of -the feats ascribed to the ghost. - -The Persian's manuscript, Christine Daae's papers, the statements made -to me by the people who used to work under MM. Richard and Moncharmin, -by little Meg herself (the worthy Madame Giry, I am sorry to say, is no -more) and by Sorelli, who is now living in retirement at Louveciennes: -all the documents relating to the existence of the ghost, which I -propose to deposit in the archives of the Opera, have been checked and -confirmed by a number of important discoveries of which I am justly -proud. I have not been able to find the house on the lake, Erik having -blocked up all the secret entrances.[1] On the other hand, I have -discovered the secret passage of the Communists, the planking of which -is falling to pieces in parts, and also the trap-door through which -Raoul and the Persian penetrated into the cellars of the opera-house. -In the Communists' dungeon, I noticed numbers of initials traced on the -walls by the unfortunate people confined in it; and among these were an -"R" and a "C." R. C.: Raoul de Chagny. The letters are there to this -day. - -If the reader will visit the Opera one morning and ask leave to stroll -where he pleases, without being accompanied by a stupid guide, let him -go to Box Five and knock with his fist or stick on the enormous column -that separates this from the stage-box. He will find that the column -sounds hollow. After that, do not be astonished by the suggestion that -it was occupied by the voice of the ghost: there is room inside the -column for two men. If you are surprised that, when the various -incidents occurred, no one turned round to look at the column, you must -remember that it presented the appearance of solid marble, and that the -voice contained in it seemed rather to come from the opposite side, -for, as we have seen, the ghost was an expert ventriloquist. - -The column was elaborately carved and decorated with the sculptor's -chisel; and I do not despair of one day discovering the ornament that -could be raised or lowered at will, so as to admit of the ghost's -mysterious correspondence with Mme. Giry and of his generosity. - -However, all these discoveries are nothing, to my mind, compared with -that which I was able to make, in the presence of the acting-manager, -in the managers' office, within a couple of inches from the desk-chair, -and which consisted of a trap-door, the width of a board in the -flooring and the length of a man's fore-arm and no longer; a trap-door -that falls back like the lid of a box; a trap-door through which I can -see a hand come and dexterously fumble at the pocket of a swallow-tail -coat. - -That is the way the forty-thousand francs went! ... And that also is -the way by which, through some trick or other, they were returned. - -Speaking about this to the Persian, I said: - -"So we may take it, as the forty-thousand francs were returned, that -Erik was simply amusing himself with that memorandum-book of his?" - -"Don't you believe it!" he replied. "Erik wanted money. Thinking -himself without the pale of humanity, he was restrained by no scruples -and he employed his extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination, -which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary -uglinesss, to prey upon his fellow-men. His reason for restoring the -forty-thousand francs, of his own accord, was that he no longer wanted -it. He had relinquished his marriage with Christine Daae. He had -relinquished everything above the surface of the earth." - -According to the Persian's account, Erik was born in a small town not -far from Rouen. He was the son of a master-mason. He ran away at an -early age from his father's house, where his ugliness was a subject of -horror and terror to his parents. For a time, he frequented the fairs, -where a showman exhibited him as the "living corpse." He seems to have -crossed the whole of Europe, from fair to fair, and to have completed -his strange education as an artist and magician at the very -fountain-head of art and magic, among the Gipsies. A period of Erik's -life remained quite obscure. He was seen at the fair of -Nijni-Novgorod, where he displayed himself in all his hideous glory. -He already sang as nobody on this earth had ever sung before; he -practised ventriloquism and gave displays of legerdemain so -extraordinary that the caravans returning to Asia talked about it -during the whole length of their journey. In this way, his reputation -penetrated the walls of the palace at Mazenderan, where the little -sultana, the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. -A dealer in furs, returning to Samarkand from Nijni-Novgorod, told of -the marvels which he had seen performed in Erik's tent. The trader was -summoned to the palace and the daroga of Mazenderan was told to -question him. Next the daroga was instructed to go and find Erik. He -brought him to Persia, where for some months Erik's will was law. He -was guilty of not a few horrors, for he seemed not to know the -difference between good and evil. He took part calmly in a number of -political assassinations; and he turned his diabolical inventive powers -against the Emir of Afghanistan, who was at war with the Persian -empire. The Shah took a liking to him. - -This was the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, of which the -daroga's narrative has given us a glimpse. Erik had very original -ideas on the subject of architecture and thought out a palace much as a -conjuror contrives a trick-casket. The Shah ordered him to construct an -edifice of this kind. Erik did so; and the building appears to have -been so ingenious that His Majesty was able to move about in it unseen -and to disappear without a possibility of the trick's being discovered. -When the Shah-in-Shah found himself the possessor of this gem, he -ordered Erik's yellow eyes to be put out. But he reflected that, even -when blind, Erik would still be able to build so remarkable a house for -another sovereign; and also that, as long as Erik was alive, some one -would know the secret of the wonderful palace. Erik's death was -decided upon, together with that of all the laborers who had worked -under his orders. The execution of this abominable decree devolved -upon the daroga of Mazenderan. Erik had shown him some slight services -and procured him many a hearty laugh. He saved Erik by providing him -with the means of escape, but nearly paid with his head for his -generous indulgence. - -Fortunately for the daroga, a corpse, half-eaten by the birds of prey, -was found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and was taken for Erik's -body, because the daroga's friends had dressed the remains in clothing -that belonged to Erik. The daroga was let off with the loss of the -imperial favor, the confiscation of his property and an order of -perpetual banishment. As a member of the Royal House, however, he -continued to receive a monthly pension of a few hundred francs from the -Persian treasury; and on this he came to live in Paris. - -As for Erik, he went to Asia Minor and thence to Constantinople, where -he entered the Sultan's employment. In explanation of the services -which he was able to render a monarch haunted by perpetual terrors, I -need only say that it was Erik who constructed all the famous -trap-doors and secret chambers and mysterious strong-boxes which were -found at Yildiz-Kiosk after the last Turkish revolution. He also -invented those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the -Sultan in all respects,[2] which made people believe that the -Commander of the Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he -was asleep elsewhere. - -Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons -that made him fly from Persia: he knew too much. Then, tired of his -adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one -"like everybody else." And he became a contractor, like any ordinary -contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered -for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted. -When he found himself in the cellars of the enormous playhouse, his -artistic, fantastic, wizard nature resumed the upper hand. Besides, -was he not as ugly as ever? He dreamed of creating for his own use a -dwelling unknown to the rest of the earth, where he could hide from -men's eyes for all time. - -The reader knows and guesses the rest. It is all in keeping with this -incredible and yet veracious story. Poor, unhappy Erik! Shall we pity -him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be "some one," like -everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his genius OR -USE IT TO PLAY TRICKS WITH, when, with an ordinary face, he would have -been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had a heart that -could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, he had to -content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must needs pity the Opera -ghost. - -I have prayed over his mortal remains, that God might show him mercy -notwithstanding his crimes. Yes, I am sure, quite sure that I prayed -beside his body, the other day, when they took it from the spot where -they were burying the phonographic records. It was his skeleton. I -did not recognize it by the ugliness of the head, for all men are ugly -when they have been dead as long as that, but by the plain gold ring -which he wore and which Christine Daae had certainly slipped on his -finger, when she came to bury him in accordance with her promise. - -The skeleton was lying near the little well, in the place where the -Angel of Music first held Christine Daae fainting in his trembling -arms, on the night when he carried her down to the cellars of the -opera-house. - -And, now, what do they mean to do with that skeleton? Surely they will -not bury it in the common grave! ... I say that the place of the -skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National Academy -of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton. - - - -[1] Even so, I am convinced that it would be easy to reach it by -draining the lake, as I have repeatedly requested the Ministry of Fine -Arts to do. I was speaking about it to M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, the -under-secretary for fine arts, only forty-eight hours before the -publication of this book. Who knows but that the score of DON JUAN -TRIUMPHANT might yet be discovered in the house on the lake? - -[2] See the interview of the special correspondent of the MATIN, with -Mohammed-Ali Bey, on the day after the entry of the Salonika troops -into Constantinople. - - - - -THE END - - - - -The Paris Opera House - - -THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" - -That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris Opera -House as it really is and has not created a building out of his -imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it taken from -an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, a short time -after the building was completed: - -"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under the -Republic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world and in -many respects the most beautiful. No European capital possesses an -opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, and none can boast -an edifice equally vast and splendid. - -"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined to -lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was well known -that water would be met with, but it was impossible to foresee at what -depth or in what quantity it would be found. Exceptional depth also -was necessary, as the stage arrangements were to be such as to admit a -scene fifty feet high to be lowered on its frame. It was therefore -necessary to lay a foundation in a soil soaked with water which should -be sufficiently solid to sustain a weight of 22,000,000 pounds, and at -the same time to be perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for the -storage of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, the -excavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, worked by -steam power, and in operation, without interruption, day and night, -from March second to October thirteenth. The floor of the cellar was -covered with a layer of concrete, then with two coats of cement, -another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. The wall includes an -outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, a coat of cement, and a -wall proper, a little over a yard thick. After all this was done the -whole was filled with water, in order that the fluid, by penetrating -into the most minute interstices, might deposit a sediment which would -close them more surely and perfectly than it would be possible to do by -hand. Twelve years elapsed before the completion of the building, and -during that time it was demonstrated that the precautions taken secured -absolute impermeability and solidity. - -"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to be -prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put to new and -unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted into a vast -military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous mass of goods. -After the siege the building fell into the hands of the Commune and the -roof was turned into a balloon station. The damage done, however, was -slight. - -"The fine stone employed in the construction was brought from quarries -in Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland, Spain, Belgium and -France. While work on the exterior was in progress, the building was -covered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent by thousands of -small panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, supplied with hammers -and axes, stripped the house of its habit, and showed in all its -splendor the great structure. No picture can do justice to the rich -colors of the edifice or to the harmonious tone resulting from the -skilful use of many diverse materials. The effect of the frontage is -completed by the cupola of the auditorium, topped with a cap of bronze -sparingly adorned with gilding. Farther on, on a level with the towers -of Notre-Dame, is the gable end of the roof of the stage, a 'Pegasus', -by M. Lequesne, rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group by -M. Millet, representing 'Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commanding -the apex. Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well as -ornamental, for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does duty -as a lightning-rod, and conducts the fluid to the body and down the -nether limbs of the god. - -"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left behind him a gateway, -reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, and -Handel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to a second vestibule -for ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion reserved for -carriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are situated. -The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium, -traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. The -ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted -columns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico. -Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain -until their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is quite -distinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. The section -of the building set aside for the use of the Emperor Napoleon was to -have included an antechamber for the bodyguards; a salon for the -aides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one for the Empress; hat and -cloak rooms, etc. Moreover, there were to be in close proximity to the -entrance, stables for three coaches, for the outriders' horses, and for -the twenty-one horsemen acting as an escort; a station for a squad of -infantry of thirty-one men and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the -horses of the latter; and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty -domestics. Thus arrangements had to be made to accommodate in this -part of the building about one hundred persons, fifty horses, and -half-a-dozen carriages. The fall of the Empire suggested some changes, -but ample provision still exists for emergencies. - -"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare splendor of material, -make the grand stairway unquestionably one of the most remarkable -features of the building. It presents to the spectator, who has just -passed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture. From -this point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing; this -and the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, are -honeycombed with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; the steps are of -white marble, and antique red marble balusters rest on green marble -sockets and support a balustrade of onyx. To the right and to the left -of this landing are stairways to the floor, on a plane with the first -row of boxes. On this floor stand thirty monolith columns of -Sarrancolin marble, with white marble bases and capitals. Pilasters of -peach-blossom and violet stone are against the corresponding walls. -More than fifty blocks had to be extracted from the quarry to find -thirty perfect monoliths. - -"The foyer de la danse has particular interest for the habitues of the -Opera. It is a place of reunion to which subscribers to three -performances a week are admitted between the acts in accordance with a -usage established in 1870. Three immense looking-glasses cover the -back wall of the FOYER, and a chandelier with one hundred and seven -burners supplies it with light. The paintings include twenty oval -medallions, in which are portrayed the twenty danseuses of most -celebrity since the opera has existed in France, and four panels by M. -Boulanger, typifying 'The War Dance', 'The Rustic Dance', 'The Dance of -Love' and 'The Bacchic Dance.' While the ladies of the ballet receive -their admirers in this foyer, they can practise their steps. -Velvet-cushioned bars have to this end been secured at convenient -points, and the floor has been given the same slope as that of the -stage, so that the labor expended may be thoroughly profitable to the -performance. The singers' foyer, on the same floor, is a much less -lively resort than the foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leave -their dressing-rooms before they are summoned to the stage. Thirty -panels with portraits of the artists of repute in the annals of the -Opera adorn this foyer. - -"Some estimate ... may be arrived at by sitting before the concierge an -hour or so before the representation commences. First appear the stage -carpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes, when L'Africaine, -for example, with its ship scene, is the opera, one hundred and ten -strong. Then come stage upholsterers, whose sole duty is to lay -carpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and a squad of firemen. -Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, coiffeurs, -supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries number about -one hundred; some are hired by the year, but the 'masses' are generally -recruited at the last minute and are generally working-men who seek to -add to their meagre earnings. There are about a hundred choristers, -and about eighty musicians. - -"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted on the stage by -means of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producing -batteries; hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works in ballets -like La Source; artificers who prepare the conflagration in Le Profeta; -florists who make ready Margarita's garden, and a host of minor -employees. This personnel is provided for as follows: Eighty -dressing-rooms are reserved for the artists, each including a small -antechamber, the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besides -these apartments, the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, and -another for fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four male -dancers; four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of different -grades; a dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries, -etc." - -A few figures taken from the article will suggest the enormous capacity -and the perfect convenience of the house. "There are 2,531 doors and -7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house; the gaspipes if -connected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; 9 reservoirs, and two -tanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and distribute their contents -through 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; 538 persons have places assigned -wherein to change their attire. The musicians have a foyer with 100 -closets for their instruments." - -The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that it "was almost -as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways and colossal -halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, satin and -velvet, met the eye at every turn." - -In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable pictures -illustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera House -and mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitan -railway tunnels, one on top of the other. - - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA *** - -***** This file should be named 175.txt or 175.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/175/ - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* - - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux -Author of "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" and -"The Perfume of the Lady in Black" - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - - - - -Contents - -Chapter - PROLOGUE -I IS IT A GHOST? -II THE NEW MARGARITA -III THE MYSTERIOUS REASON -IV BOX FIVE -V THE ENCHANTED VIOLIN -VI A VISIT TO BOX FIVE -VII FAUST AND WHAT FOLLOWED -VIII THE MYSTERIOUS BROUGHAM -IX AT THE MASKED BALL -X FORGET THE NAME OF THE MAN'S VOICE -XI ABOVE THE TRAP-DOORS -XII APOLLO'S LYRE -XIII A MASTER-STROKE OF THE TRAP-DOOR LOVER -XIV THE SINGULAR ATTITUDE OF A SAFETY-PIN -XV CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE! -XVI MME. GIRY'S REVELATIONS -XVII THE SAFETY-PIN AGAIN -XVIII THE COMMISSARY, THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN -XIX THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN -XX IN THE CELLARS OF THE OPERA -XXI INTERESTING VICISSITUDES -XXII IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER -XXIII THE TORTURES BEGIN -XXIV BARRELS! BARRELS! -XXV THE SCORPION OR THE GRASSHOPPER: WHICH -XXVI THE END OF THE GHOST'S LOVE STORY - EPILOGUE - -{plus a "bonus chapter" called "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE"} - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera - - - - -Prologue - - -IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS SINGULAR WORK INFORMS THE READER HOW -HE ACQUIRED THE CERTAINTY THAT THE OPERA GHOST REALLY EXISTED - -The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, -a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of -the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains -of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, -the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed -in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance -of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. - -When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of -Music I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between -the phenomena ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary -and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; -and I soon conceived the idea that this tragedy might reasonably -be explained by the phenomena in question. The events do not -date more than thirty years back; and it would not be difficult -to find at the present day, in the foyer of the ballet, old men -of the highest respectability, men upon whose word one could -absolutely rely, who would remember as though they happened yesterday -the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended the kidnapping -of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny -and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body -was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars -of the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses -had until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting -the more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible story. - -The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an inquiry that -at every moment was complicated by events which, at first sight, -might be looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was -within an ace of abandoning a task in which I was exhausting -myself in the hopeless pursuit of a vain image. At last, -I received the proof that my presentiments had not deceived me, -and I was rewarded for all my efforts on the day when I acquired -the certainty that the Opera ghost was more than a mere shade. - -On that day, I had spent long hours over THE MEMOIRS OF A MANAGER, -the light and frivolous work of the too-skeptical Moncharmin, who, -during his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious -behavior of the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he -could at the very moment when he became the first victim of the -curious financial operation that went on inside the "magic envelope." - -I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful -acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing -with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced -me gaily. The acting-manager knew all about my investigations -and how eagerly and unsuccessfully I had been trying to discover -the whereabouts of the examining magistrate in the famous Chagny case, -M. Faure. Nobody knew what had become of him, alive or dead; -and here he was back from Canada, where he had spent fifteen years, -and the first thing he had done, on his return to Paris, was to come -to the secretarial offices at the Opera and ask for a free seat. -The little old man was M. Faure himself. - -We spent a good part of the evening together and he told me the whole -Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. He was bound to -conclude in favor of the madness of the viscount and the accidental -death of the elder brother, for lack of evidence to the contrary; -but he was nevertheless persuaded that a terrible tragedy had taken -place between the two brothers in connection with Christine Daae. -He could not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. -When I mentioned the ghost, he only laughed. He, too, had been told -of the curious manifestations that seemed to point to the existence -of an abnormal being, residing in one of the most mysterious -corners of the Opera, and he knew the story of the envelope; -but he had never seen anything in it worthy of his attention -as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case, and it was as much -as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness who appeared -of his own accord and declared that he had often met the ghost. -This witness was none other than the man whom all Paris called the -"Persian" and who was well-known to every subscriber to the Opera. -The magistrate took him for a visionary. - -I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. I wanted, -if there were still time, to find this valuable and eccentric witness. -My luck began to improve and I discovered him in his little flat -in the Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died -five months after my visit. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; -but when the Persian had told me, with child-like candor, -all that he knew about the ghost and had handed me the proofs -of the ghost's existence--including the strange correspondence -of Christine Daae--to do as I pleased with, I was no longer able -to doubt. No, the ghost was not a myth! - -I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been -forged from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly -been fed on the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered -some of Christine's writing outside the famous bundle of letters and, -on a comparison between the two, all my doubts were removed. -I also went into the past history of the Persian and found that he -was an upright man, incapable of inventing a story that might have -defeated the ends of justice. - -This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, -at one time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were -friends of the Chagny family, to whom I showed all my documents -and set forth all my inferences. In this connection, I should -like to print a few lines which I received from General D------: - -SIR: - -I can not urge you too strongly to publish the results of your inquiry. -I remember perfectly that, a few weeks before the disappearance -of that great singer, Christine Daae, and the tragedy which -threw the whole of the Faubourg Saint-Germain into mourning, -there was a great deal of talk, in the foyer of the ballet, -on the subject of the "ghost;" and I believe that it only ceased -to be discussed in consequence of the later affair that excited us -all so greatly. But, if it be possible--as, after hearing you, -I believe--to explain the tragedy through the ghost, then I -beg you sir, to talk to us about the ghost again. - -Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, he will always -be more easily explained than the dismal story in which malevolent -people have tried to picture two brothers killing each other -who had worshiped each other all their lives. - -Believe me, etc. - -Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over -the ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made -his kingdom. All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived, -corroborated the Persian's documents precisely; and a wonderful -discovery crowned my labors in a very definite fashion. It will be -remembered that, later, when digging in the substructure of the Opera, -before burying the phonographic records of the artist's voice, -the workmen laid bare a corpse. Well, I was at once able -to prove that this corpse was that of the Opera ghost. I made -the acting-manager put this proof to the test with his own hand; -and it is now a matter of supreme indifference to me if the papers -pretend that the body was that of a victim of the Commune. - -The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars -of the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their -skeletons can be found in a spot not very far from that immense crypt -which was stocked during the siege with all sorts of provisions. -I came upon this track just when I was looking for the remains -of the Opera ghost, which I should never have discovered but for -the unheard-of chance described above. - -But we will return to the corpse and what ought to be done with it. -For the present, I must conclude this very necessary introduction -by thanking M. Mifroid (who was the commissary of police called in for -the first investigations after the disappearance of Christine Daae), -M. Remy, the late secretary, M. Mercier, the late acting-manager, -M. Gabriel, the late chorus-master, and more particularly Mme. la -Baronne de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the "little Meg" -of the story (and who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star -of our admirable corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy -Mme. Giry, now deceased, who had charge of the ghost's private box. -All these were of the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, -I shall be able to reproduce those hours of sheer love and terror, -in their smallest details, before the reader's eyes. - -And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing -on the threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank -the present management the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me -in all my inquiries, and M. Messager in particular, together with -M. Gabion, the acting-manager, and that most amiable of men, -the architect intrusted with the preservation of the building, -who did not hesitate to lend me the works of Charles Garnier, -although he was almost sure that I would never return them to him. -Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the generosity of my friend -and former collaborator, M. J. Le Croze, who allowed me to dip -into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow the rarest -editions of books by which he set great store. - -GASTON LEROUX. - - - -Chapter I Is it the Ghost? - - -It was the evening on which MM. Debienne and Poligny, the managers of -the Opera, were giving a last gala performance to mark their retirement. -Suddenly the dressing-room of La Sorelli, one of the principal dancers, -was invaded by half-a-dozen young ladies of the ballet, who had come -up from the stage after "dancing" Polyeucte. They rushed in amid -great confusion, some giving vent to forced and unnatural laughter, -others to cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished to be alone for a moment -to "run through" the speech which she was to make to the resigning -managers, looked around angrily at the mad and tumultuous crowd. -It was little Jammes--the girl with the tip-tilted nose, -the forget-me-not eyes, the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white -neck and shoulders--who gave the explanation in a trembling voice: - -"It's the ghost!" And she locked the door. - -Sorelli's dressing-room was fitted up with official, commonplace elegance. -A pier-glass, a sofa, a dressing-table and a cupboard or two provided -the necessary furniture. On the walls hung a few engravings, -relics of the mother, who had known the glories of the old Opera in -the Rue le Peletier; portraits of Vestris, Gardel, Dupont, Bigottini. -But the room seemed a palace to the brats of the corps de ballet, -who were lodged in common dressing-rooms where they spent their -time singing, quarreling, smacking the dressers and hair-dressers -and buying one another glasses of cassis, beer, or even rhum, -until the call-boy's bell rang. - -Sorelli was very superstitious. She shuddered when she heard -little Jammes speak of the ghost, called her a "silly little fool" -and then, as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general, -and the Opera ghost in particular, at once asked for details: - -"Have you seen him?" - -"As plainly as I see you now!" said little Jammes, whose legs were -giving way beneath her, and she dropped with a moan into a chair. - -Thereupon little Giry--the girl with eyes black as sloes, -hair black as ink, a swarthy complexion and a poor little skin -stretched over poor little bones--little Giry added: - -"If that's the ghost, he's very ugly!" - -"Oh, yes!" cried the chorus of ballet-girls. - -And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them -in the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood -before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. -He seemed to have come straight through the wall. - -"Pooh!" said one of them, who had more or less kept her head. -"You see the ghost everywhere!" - -And it was true. For several months, there had been nothing discussed -at the Opera but this ghost in dress-clothes who stalked about -the building, from top to bottom, like a shadow, who spoke to nobody, -to whom nobody dared speak and who vanished as soon as he was seen, -no one knowing how or where. As became a real ghost, he made no noise -in walking. People began by laughing and making fun of this specter -dressed like a man of fashion or an undertaker; but the ghost legend -soon swelled to enormous proportions among the corps de ballet. -All the girls pretended to have met this supernatural being more -or less often. And those who laughed the loudest were not the most -at ease. When he did not show himself, he betrayed his presence -or his passing by accident, comic or serious, for which the general -superstition held him responsible. Had any one met with a fall, -or suffered a practical joke at the hands of one of the other girls, -or lost a powderpuff, it was at once the fault of the ghost, -of the Opera ghost. - -After all, who had seen him? You meet so many men in dress-clothes -at the Opera who are not ghosts. But this dress-suit had -a peculiarity of its own. It covered a skeleton. At least, -so the ballet-girls said. And, of course, it had a death's head. - -Was all this serious? The truth is that the idea of the skeleton -came from the description of the ghost given by Joseph Buquet, -the chief scene-shifter, who had really seen the ghost. He had run -up against the ghost on the little staircase, by the footlights, -which leads to "the cellars." He had seen him for a second-- -for the ghost had fled--and to any one who cared to listen to him -he said: - -"He is extraordinarily thin and his dress-coat hangs on a skeleton frame. -His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils. -You just see two big black holes, as in a dead man's skull. -His skin, which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead, -is not white, but a nasty yellow. His nose is so little worth -talking about that you can't see it side-face; and THE ABSENCE -of that nose is a horrible thing TO LOOK AT. All the hair he -has is three or four long dark locks on his forehead and behind -his ears." - -This chief scene-shifter was a serious, sober, steady man, -very slow at imagining things. His words were received with interest -and amazement; and soon there were other people to say that they too -had met a man in dress-clothes with a death's head on his shoulders. -Sensible men who had wind of the story began by saying that Joseph -Buquet had been the victim of a joke played by one of his assistants. -And then, one after the other, there came a series of incidents -so curious and so inexplicable that the very shrewdest people began -to feel uneasy. - -For instance, a fireman is a brave fellow! He fears nothing, -least of all fire! Well, the fireman in question, who had gone -to make a round of inspection in the cellars and who, it seems, -had ventured a little farther than usual, suddenly reappeared on -the stage, pale, scared, trembling, with his eyes starting out of -his head, and practically fainted in the arms of the proud mother -of little Jammes.[1] And why? Because he had seen coming toward him, -AT THE LEVEL OF HIS HEAD, BUT WITHOUT A BODY ATTACHED TO IT, -A HEAD OF FIRE! And, as I said, a fireman is not afraid of fire. - ----- - -[1] I have the anecdote, which is quite authentic, from M. Pedro -Gailhard himself, the late manager of the Opera. - -The fireman's name was Pampin. - -The corps de ballet was flung into consternation. At first sight, -this fiery head in no way corresponded with Joseph Buquet's -description of the ghost. But the young ladies soon persuaded -themselves that the ghost had several heads, which he changed about -as he pleased. And, of course, they at once imagined that they -were in the greatest danger. Once a fireman did not hesitate -to faint, leaders and front-row and back-row girls alike had plenty -of excuses for the fright that made them quicken their pace when -passing some dark corner or ill-lighted corridor. Sorelli herself, -on the day after the adventure of the fireman, placed a horseshoe -on the table in front of the stage-door-keeper's box, which every -one who entered the Opera otherwise than as a spectator must -touch before setting foot on the first tread of the staircase. -This horse-shoe was not invented by me--any more than any other -part of this story, alas!--and may still be seen on the table -in the passage outside the stage-door-keeper's box, when you enter -the Opera through the court known as the Cour de l'Administration. - -To return to the evening in question. - -"It's the ghost!" little Jammes had cried. - -An agonizing silence now reigned in the dressing-room. Nothing -was heard but the hard breathing of the girls. At last, Jammes, -flinging herself upon the farthest corner of the wall, with every -mark of real terror on her face, whispered: - -"Listen!" - -Everybody seemed to hear a rustling outside the door. There was no -sound of footsteps. It was like light silk sliding over the panel. -Then it stopped. - -Sorelli tried to show more pluck than the others. She went up -to the door and, in a quavering voice, asked: - -"Who's there?" - -But nobody answered. Then feeling all eyes upon her, watching her -last movement, she made an effort to show courage, and said very loudly: - -"Is there any one behind the door?" - -"Oh, yes, yes! Of course there is!" cried that little dried plum -of a Meg Giry, heroically holding Sorelli back by her gauze skirt. -"Whatever you do, don't open the door! Oh, Lord, don't open -the door!" - -But Sorelli, armed with a dagger that never left her, turned the key -and drew back the door, while the ballet-girls retreated to the inner -dressing-room and Meg Giry sighed: - -"Mother! Mother!" - -Sorelli looked into the passage bravely. It was empty; -a gas-flame, in its glass prison, cast a red and suspicious light -into the surrounding darkness, without succeeding in dispelling it. -And the dancer slammed the door again, with a deep sigh. - -"No," she said, "there is no one there." - -"Still, we saw him!" Jammes declared, returning with timid little steps -to her place beside Sorelli. "He must be somewhere prowling about. -I shan't go back to dress. We had better all go down to the foyer -together, at once, for the `speech,' and we will come up again together." - -And the child reverently touched the little coral finger-ring which -she wore as a charm against bad luck, while Sorelli, stealthily, -with the tip of her pink right thumb-nail, made a St. Andrew's cross -on the wooden ring which adorned the fourth finger of her left hand. -She said to the little ballet-girls: - -"Come, children, pull yourselves together! I dare say no one has -ever seen the ghost." - -"Yes, yes, we saw him--we saw him just now!" cried the girls. -"He had his death's head and his dress-coat, just as when he appeared -to Joseph Buquet!" - -"And Gabriel saw him too!" said Jammes. "Only yesterday! -Yesterday afternoon--in broad day-light----" - -"Gabriel, the chorus-master?" - -"Why, yes, didn't you know?" - -"And he was wearing his dress-clothes, in broad daylight?" - -"Who? Gabriel?" - -"Why, no, the ghost!" - -"Certainly! Gabriel told me so himself. That's what he knew him by. -Gabriel was in the stage-manager's office. Suddenly the door opened -and the Persian entered. You know the Persian has the evil eye----" - -"Oh, yes!" answered the little ballet-girls in chorus, warding off ill-luck by -pointing their forefinger and little finger at the absent Persian, while their -second and third fingers were bent on the palm and held down by the thumb. - -"And you know how superstitious Gabriel is," continued Jammes. -"However, he is always polite. When he meets the Persian, he just -puts his hand in his pocket and touches his keys. Well, the moment -the Persian appeared in the doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from -his chair to the lock of the cupboard, so as to touch iron! -In doing so, he tore a whole skirt of his overcoat on a nail. -Hurrying to get out of the room, he banged his forehead against a -hat-peg and gave himself a huge bump; then, suddenly stepping back, -he skinned his arm on the screen, near the piano; he tried to lean -on the piano, but the lid fell on his hands and crushed his fingers; -he rushed out of the office like a madman, slipped on the staircase -and came down the whole of the first flight on his back. -I was just passing with mother. We picked him up. He was covered -with bruises and his face was all over blood. We were frightened out -of our lives, but, all at once, he began to thank Providence that he -had got off so cheaply. Then he told us what had frightened him. -He had seen the ghost behind the Persian, THE GHOST WITH THE DEATH'S -HEAD just like Joseph Buquet's description!" - -Jammes had told her story ever so quickly, as though the ghost -were at her heels, and was quite out of breath at the finish. -A silence followed, while Sorelli polished her nails in great excitement. -It was broken by little Giry, who said: - -"Joseph Buquet would do better to hold his tongue." - -"Why should he hold his tongue?" asked somebody. - -"That's mother's opinion," replied Meg, lowering her voice -and looking all about her as though fearing lest other ears -than those present might overhear. - -"And why is it your mother's opinion?" - -"Hush! Mother says the ghost doesn't like being talked about." - -"And why does your mother say so?" - -"Because--because--nothing--" - -This reticence exasperated the curiosity of the young ladies, -who crowded round little Giry, begging her to explain herself. -They were there, side by side, leaning forward simultaneously -in one movement of entreaty and fear, communicating their terror -to one another, taking a keen pleasure in feeling their blood freeze -in their veins. - -"I swore not to tell!" gasped Meg. - -But they left her no peace and promised to keep the secret, until Meg, -burning to say all she knew, began, with her eyes fixed on the door: - -"Well, it's because of the private box." - -"What private box?" - -"The ghost's box!" - -"Has the ghost a box? Oh, do tell us, do tell us!" - -"Not so loud!" said Meg. "It's Box Five, you know, the box -on the grand tier, next to the stage-box, on the left." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"I tell you it is. Mother has charge of it. But you swear you -won't say a word?" - -"Of course, of course." - -"Well, that's the ghost's box. No one has had it for over a month, -except the ghost, and orders have been given at the box-office -that it must never be sold." - -"And does the ghost really come there?" - -"Yes." - -"Then somebody does come?" - -"Why, no! The ghost comes, but there is nobody there." - -The little ballet-girls exchanged glances. If the ghost came to the box, -he must be seen, because he wore a dress-coat and a death's head. -This was what they tried to make Meg understand, but she replied: - -"That's just it! The ghost is not seen. And he has no dress-coat -and no head! All that talk about his death's head and his head of -fire is nonsense! There's nothing in it. You only hear him when he -is in the box. Mother has never seen him, but she has heard him. -Mother knows, because she gives him his program." - -Sorelli interfered. - -"Giry, child, you're getting at us!" - -Thereupon little Giry began to cry. - -"I ought to have held my tongue--if mother ever came to know! -But I was quite right, Joseph Buquet had no business to talk -of things that don't concern him--it will bring him bad luck-- -mother was saying so last night----" - -There was a sound of hurried and heavy footsteps in the passage -and a breathless voice cried: - -"Cecile! Cecile! Are you there?" - -"It's mother's voice," said Jammes. "What's the matter?" - -She opened the door. A respectable lady, built on the lines of a -Pomeranian grenadier, burst into the dressing-room and dropped groaning -into a vacant arm-chair. Her eyes rolled madly in her brick-dust colored face. - -"How awful!" she said. "How awful!" - -"What? What?" - -"Joseph Buquet - -"What about him?" - -"Joseph Buquet is dead!" - -The room became filled with exclamations, with astonished outcries, -with scared requests for explanations. - -"Yes, he was found hanging in the third-floor cellar!" - -"It's the ghost!" little Giry blurted, as though in spite of herself; -but she at once corrected herself, with her hands pressed to her mouth: -"No, no!--I, didn't say it!--I didn't say it!----" - -All around her, her panic-stricken companions repeated under -their breaths: - -"Yes--it must be the ghost!" - -Sorelli was very pale. - -"I shall never be able to recite my speech," she said. - -Ma Jammes gave her opinion, while she emptied a glass of liqueur -that happened to be standing on a table; the ghost must have -something to do with it. - -The truth is that no one ever knew how Joseph Buquet met his death. -The verdict at the inquest was "natural suicide." In his Memoirs -of Manager, M. Moncharmin, one of the joint managers who succeeded MM. -Debienne and Poligny, describes the incident as follows: - -"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. -Debienne and Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was -in the manager's office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly -came darting in. He seemed half mad and told me that the body -of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar under -the stage, between a farm-house and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. -I shouted: - -"`Come and cut him down!' - -"By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob's ladder, -the man was no longer hanging from his rope!" - -So this is an event which M. Moncharmin thinks natural. A man -hangs at the end of a rope; they go to cut him down; the rope -has disappeared. Oh, M. Moncharmin found a very simple explanation! -Listen to him: - -"It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost -no time in taking their precautions against the evil eye." - -There you are! Picture the corps de ballet scuttling down the -Jacob's ladder and dividing the suicide's rope among themselves -in less time than it takes to write! When, on the other hand, -I think of the exact spot where the body was discovered-- -the third cellar underneath the stage!--imagine that SOMEBODY -must have been interested in seeing that the rope disappeared -after it had effected its purpose; and time will show if I am wrong. - -The horrid news soon spread all over the Opera, where Joseph Buquet -was very popular. The dressing-rooms emptied and the ballet-girls, -crowding around Sorelli like timid sheep around their shepherdess, -made for the foyer through the ill-lit passages and staircases, -trotting as fast as their little pink legs could carry them. - - - -Chapter II The New Margarita - - -On the first landing, Sorelli ran against the Comte de Chagny, -who was coming up-stairs. The count, who was generally so calm, -seemed greatly excited. - -"I was just going to you," he said, taking off his hat. "Oh, Sorelli, -what an evening! And Christine Daae: what a triumph!" - -"Impossible!" said Meg Giry. "Six months ago, she used to sing like -a CROCK! But do let us get by, my dear count," continues the brat, -with a saucy curtsey. "We are going to inquire after a poor man -who was found hanging by the neck." - -Just then the acting-manager came fussing past and stopped when he -heard this remark. - -"What!" he exclaimed roughly. "Have you girls heard already? -Well, please forget about it for tonight--and above all don't let -M. Debienne and M. Poligny hear; it would upset them too much -on their last day." - -They all went on to the foyer of the ballet, which was already full -of people. The Comte de Chagny was right; no gala performance ever -equalled this one. All the great composers of the day had conducted their -own works in turns. Faure and Krauss had sung; and, on that evening, -Christine Daae had revealed her true self, for the first time, -to the astonished and enthusiastic audience. Gounod had conducted -the Funeral March of a Marionnette; Reyer, his beautiful overture -to Siguar; Saint Saens, the Danse Macabre and a Reverie Orientale; -Massenet, an unpublished Hungarian march; Guiraud, his Carnaval; -Delibes, the Valse Lente from Sylvia and the Pizzicati from Coppelia. -Mlle. Krauss had sung the bolero in the Vespri Siciliani; -and Mlle. Denise Bloch the drinking song in Lucrezia Borgia. - -But the real triumph was reserved for Christine Daae, who had -begun by singing a few passages from Romeo and Juliet. It was -the first time that the young artist sang in this work of Gounod, -which had not been transferred to the Opera and which was revived -at the Opera Comique after it had been produced at the old Theatre -Lyrique by Mme. Carvalho. Those who heard her say that her voice, -in these passages, was seraphic; but this was nothing to the superhuman -notes that she gave forth in the prison scene and the final trio -in FAUST, which she sang in the place of La Carlotta, who was ill. -No one had ever heard or seen anything like it. - -Daae revealed a new Margarita that night, a Margarita of a splendor, -a radiance hitherto unsuspected. The whole house went mad, -rising to its feet, shouting, cheering, clapping, while Christine -sobbed and fainted in the arms of her fellow-singers and had to be -carried to her dressing-room. A few subscribers, however, protested. -Why had so great a treasure been kept from them all that time? -Till then, Christine Daae had played a good Siebel to Carlotta's -rather too splendidly material Margarita. And it had needed -Carlotta's incomprehensible and inexcusable absence from this gala -night for the little Daae, at a moment's warning, to show all that she -could do in a part of the program reserved for the Spanish diva! -Well, what the subscribers wanted to know was, why had Debienne -and Poligny applied to Daae, when Carlotta was taken ill? Did they -know of her hidden genius? And, if they knew of it, why had they -kept it hidden? And why had she kept it hidden? Oddly enough, -she was not known to have a professor of singing at that moment. -She had often said she meant to practise alone for the future. -The whole thing was a mystery. - -The Comte de Chagny, standing up in his box, listened to all this -frenzy and took part in it by loudly applauding. Philippe Georges -Marie Comte de Chagny was just forty-one years of age. -He was a great aristocrat and a good-looking man, above middle -height and with attractive features, in spite of his hard forehead -and his rather cold eyes. He was exquisitely polite to the women -and a little haughty to the men, who did not always forgive him -for his successes in society. He had an excellent heart and an -irreproachable conscience. On the death of old Count Philibert, -he became the head of one of the oldest and most distinguished -families in France, whose arms dated back to the fourteenth century. -The Chagnys owned a great deal of property; and, when the old count, -who was a widower, died, it was no easy task for Philippe to accept -the management of so large an estate. His two sisters and his -brother, Raoul, would not hear of a division and waived their claim -to their shares, leaving themselves entirely in Philippe's hands, -as though the right of primogeniture had never ceased to exist. -When the two sisters married, on the same day, they received their -portion from their brother, not as a thing rightfully belonging -to them, but as a dowry for which they thanked him. - -The Comtesse de Chagny, nee de Moerogis de La Martyniere, had died in -giving birth to Raoul, who was born twenty years after his elder brother. -At the time of the old count's death, Raoul was twelve years of age. -Philippe busied himself actively with the youngster's education. -He was admirably assisted in this work first by his sisters -and afterward by an old aunt, the widow of a naval officer, -who lived at Brest and gave young Raoul a taste for the sea. -The lad entered the Borda training-ship, finished his course -with honors and quietly made his trip round the world. Thanks to -powerful influence, he had just been appointed a member of the official -expedition on board the Requin, which was to be sent to the Arctic -Circle in search of the survivors of the D'Artoi's expedition, -of whom nothing had been heard for three years. Meanwhile, he was -enjoying a long furlough which would not be over for six months; -and already the dowagers of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were pitying -the handsome and apparently delicate stripling for the hard work -in store for him. - -The shyness of the sailor-lad--I was almost saying his innocence-- -was remarkable. He seemed to have but just left the women's -apron-strings. As a matter of fact, petted as he was by his two -sisters and his old aunt, he had retained from this purely feminine -education mnnners that were almost candid and stamped with a charm -that nothing had yet been able to sully. He was a little over -twenty-one years of age and looked eighteen. He had a small, -fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes and a complexion like a girl's. - -Philippe spoiled Raoul. To begin with, he was very proud of him -and pleased to foresee a glorious career for his junior in the navy -in which one of their ancestors, the famous Chagny de La Roche, -had held the rank of admiral. He took advantage of the young -man's leave of absence to show him Paris, with all its luxurious -and artistic delights. The count considered that, at Raoul's age, -it is not good to be too good. Philippe himself had a character -that was very well-balanced in work and pleasure alike; -his demeanor was always faultless; and he was incapable of setting -his brother a bad example. He took him with him wherever he went. -He even introduced him to the foyer of the ballet. I know that -the count was said to be "on terms" with Sorelli. But it could -hardly be reckoned as a crime for this nobleman, a bachelor, -with plenty of leisure, especially since his sisters were settled, -to come and spend an hour or two after dinner in the company -of a dancer, who, though not so very, very witty, had the finest -eyes that ever were seen! And, besides, there are places where -a true Parisian, when he has the rank of the Comte de Chagny, -is bound to show himself; and at that time the foyer of the ballet -at the Opera was one of those places. - -Lastly, Philippe would perhaps not have taken his brother behind -the scenes of the Opera if Raoul had not been the first to ask him, -repeatedly renewing his request with a gentle obstinacy which -the count remembered at a later date. - -On that evening, Philippe, after applauding the Daae, turned to -Raoul and saw that he was quite pale. - -"Don't you see," said Raoul, "that the woman's fainting?" - -"You look like fainting yourself," said the count. "What's the matter?" - -But Raoul had recovered himself and was standing up. - -"Let's go and see," he said, "she never sang like that before." - -The count gave his brother a curious smiling glance and seemed quite pleased. -They were soon at the door leading from the house to the stage. -Numbers of subscribers were slowly making their way through. -Raoul tore his gloves without knowing what he was doing and Philippe -had much too kind a heart to laugh at him for his impatience. -But he now understood why Raoul was absent-minded when spoken to -and why he always tried to turn every conversation to the subject -of the Opera. - -They reached the stage and pushed through the crowd of gentlemen, -scene-shifters, supers and chorus-girls, Raoul leading the way, -feeling that his heart no longer belonged to him, his face set -with passion, while Count Philippe followed him with difficulty -and continued to smile. At the back of the stage, Raoul had to stop -before the inrush of the little troop of ballet-girls who blocked -the passage which he was trying to enter. More than one chaffing -phrase darted from little made-up lips, to which he did not reply; -and at last he was able to pass, and dived into the semi-darkness -of a corridor ringing with the name of "Daae! Daae!" The count -was surprised to find that Raoul knew the way. He had never taken -him to Christine's himself and came to the conclusion that Raoul must -have gone there alone while the count stayed talking in the foyer -with Sorelli, who often asked him to wait until it was her time to -"go on" and sometimes handed him the little gaiters in which she ran -down from her dressing-room to preserve the spotlessness of her satin -dancing-shoes and her flesh-colored tights. Sorelli had an excuse; -she had lost her mother. - -Postponing his usual visit to Sorelli for a few minutes, the count -followed his brother down the passage that led to Daae's dressing-room -and saw that it had never been so crammed as on that evening, -when the whole house seemed excited by her success and also by her -fainting fit. For the girl had not yet come to; and the doctor -of the theater had just arrived at the moment when Raoul entered -at his heels. Christine, therefore, received the first aid -of the one, while opening her eyes in the arms of the other. -The count and many more remained crowding in the doorway. - -"Don't you think, Doctor, that those gentlemen had better clear -the room?" asked Raoul coolly. "There's no breathing here." - -"You're quite right," said the doctor. - -And he sent every one away, except Raoul and the maid, who looked -at Raoul with eyes of the most undisguised astonishment. -She had never seen him before and yet dared not question him; -and the doctor imagined that the young man was only acting as he did -because he had the right to. The viscount, therefore, remained in -the room watching Christine as she slowly returned to life, -while even the joint managers, Debienne and Poligny, who had come -to offer their sympathy and congratulations, found themselves thrust -into the passage among the crowd of dandies. The Comte de Chagny, -who was one of those standing outside, laughed: - -"Oh, the rogue, the rogue!" And he added, under his breath: -"Those youngsters with their school-girl airs! So he's a Chagny -after all!" - -He turned to go to Sorelli's dressing-room, but met her on the way, -with her little troop of trembling ballet-girls, as we have seen. - -Meanwhile, Christine Daae uttered a deep sigh, which was answered -by a groan. She turned her head, saw Raoul and started. She looked -at the doctor, on whom she bestowed a smile, then at her maid, -then at Raoul again. - -"Monsieur," she said, in a voice not much above a whisper, -"who are you?" - -"Mademoiselle," replied the young man, kneeling on one knee -and pressing a fervent kiss on the diva's hand, "I AM THE LITTLE -BOY WHO WENT INTO THE SEA TO RESCUE YOUR SCARF." - -Christine again looked at the doctor and the maid; and all three -began to laugh. - -Raoul turned very red and stood up. - -"Mademoiselle," he said, "since you are pleased not to recognize me, -I should like to say something to you in private, something very important." - -"When I am better, do you mind?" And her voice shook. "You have -been very good." - -"Yes, you must go," said the doctor, with his pleasantest smile. -"Leave me to attend to mademoiselle." - -"I am not ill now," said Christine suddenly, with strange -and unexpected energy. - -She rose and passed her hand over her eyelids. - -"Thank you, Doctor. I should like to be alone. Please go away, -all of you. Leave me. I feel very restless this evening." - -The doctor tried to make a short protest, but, perceiving the girl's -evident agitation, he thought the best remedy was not to thwart her. -And he went away, saying to Raoul, outside: - -"She is not herself to-night. She is usually so gentle." - -Then he said good night and Raoul was left alone. The whole of this -part of the theater was now deserted. The farewell ceremony was -no doubt taking place in the foyer of the ballet. Raoul thought -that Daae might go to it and he waited in the silent solitude, -even hiding in the favoring shadow of a doorway. He felt a terrible pain -at his heart and it was of this that he wanted to speak to Daae without delay. - -Suddenly the dressing-room door opened and the maid came out by herself, -carrying bundles. He stopped her and asked how her mistress was. -The woman laughed and said that she was quite well, but that he -must not disturb her, for she wished to be left alone. And she -passed on. One idea alone filled Raoul's burning brain: of course, -Daae wished to be left alone FOR HIM! Had he not told her that he -wanted to speak to her privately? - -Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his -ear to the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his -hand dropped. He had heard A MAN'S VOICE in the dressing-room, saying, -in a curiously masterful tone: - -"Christine, you must love me!" - -And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though -accompanied by tears, replied: - -"How can you talk like that? WHEN I SING ONLY FOR YOU!" - -Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain. His heart, -which had seemed gone for ever, returned to his breast and -was throbbing loudly. The whole passage echoed with its beating and -Raoul's ears were deafened. Surely, if his heart continued to make -such a noise, they would hear it inside, they would open the door and -the young man would be turned away in disgrace. What a position for a Chagny! -To be caught listening behind a door! He took his heart in his two hands -to make it stop. - -The man's voice spoke again: "Are you very tired?" - -"Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!" Christine replied. - -"Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice, -"and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. -THE ANGELS WEPT TONIGHT." - -Raoul heard nothing after that. Nevertheless, he did not go away, -but, as though he feared lest he should be caught, he returned to -his dark corner, determined to wait for the man to leave the room. -At one and the same time, he had learned what love meant, and hatred. -He knew that he loved. He wanted to know whom he hated. To his -great astonishment, the door opened and Christine Daae appeared, -wrapped in furs, with her face hidden in a lace veil, alone. She closed -the door behind her, but Raoul observed that she did not lock it. -She passed him. He did not even follow her with his eyes, for his -eyes were fixed on the door, which did not open again. - -When the passage was once more deserted, he crossed it, -opened the door of the dressing-room, went in and shut the door. -He found himself in absolute darkness. The gas had been turned out. - -"There is some one here!" said Raoul, with his back against -the closed door, in a quivering voice. "What are you hiding for?" - -All was darkness and silence. Raoul heard only the sound of his -own breathing. He quite failed to see that the indiscretion -of his conduct was exceeding all bounds. - -"You shan't leave this until I let you!" he exclaimed. "If you -don't answer, you are a coward! But I'll expose you!" - -And he struck a match. The blaze lit up the room. There was no -one in the room! Raoul, first turning the key in the door, lit the -gas-jets. He went into the dressing-closet, opened the cupboards, -hunted about, felt the walls with his moist hands. Nothing! - -"Look here!" he said, aloud. "Am I going mad?" - -He stood for ten minutes listening to the gas flaring in the silence -of the empty room; lover though he was, he did not even think of stealing -a ribbon that would have given him the perfume of the woman he loved. -He went out, not knowing what he was doing nor where he was going. -At a given moment in his wayward progress, an icy draft struck -him in the face. He found himself at the bottom of a staircase, -down which, behind him, a procession of workmen were carrying a sort -of stretcher, covered with a white sheet. - -"Which is the way out, please?" he asked of one of the men. - -"Straight in front of you, the door is open. But let us pass." - -Pointing to the stretcher, he asked mechanically: "What's that?" - -The workmen answered: - -"`That' is Joseph Buquet, who was found in the third cellar, -hanging between a farm-house and a scene from the ROI DE LAHORE." - -He took off his hat, fell back to make room for the procession -and went out. - - - -Chapter III The Mysterious Reason - - -During this time, the farewell ceremony was taking place. -I have already said that this magnificent function was being given -on the occasion of the retirement of M. Debienne and M. Poligny, -who had determined to "die game," as we say nowadays. They had been -assisted in the realization of their ideal, though melancholy, -program by all that counted in the social and artistic world of Paris. -All these people met, after the performance, in the foyer of the ballet, -where Sorelli waited for the arrival of the retiring managers -with a glass of champagne in her hand and a little prepared speech -at the tip of her tongue. Behind her, the members of the Corps -de Ballet, young and old, discussed the events of the day in whispers -or exchanged discreet signals with their friends, a noisy crowd -of whom surrounded the supper-tables arranged along the slanting floor. - -A few of the dancers had already changed into ordinary dress; but most -of them wore their skirts of gossamer gauze; and all had thought it -the right thing to put on a special face for the occasion: all, that is, -except little Jammes, whose fifteen summers--happy age!--seemed already -to have forgotten the ghost and the death of Joseph Buquet. She never -ceased to laugh and chatter, to hop about and play practical jokes, -until Mm. Debienne and Poligny appeared on the steps of the foyer, -when she was severely called to order by the impatient Sorelli. - -Everybody remarked that the retiring managers looked cheerful, -as is the Paris way. None will ever be a true Parisian who has -not learned to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one -of sadness, boredom or indifference over his inward joy. You know -that one of your friends is in trouble; do not try to console him: -he will tell you that he is already comforted; but, should he have met -with good fortune, be careful how you congratulate him: he thinks -it so natural that he is surprised that you should speak of it. -In Paris, our lives are one masked ball; and the foyer of the ballet -is the last place in which two men so "knowing" as M. Debienne -and M. Poligny would have made the mistake of betraying their grief, -however genuine it might be. And they were already smiling rather -too broadly upon Sorelli, who had begun to recite her speech, -when an exclamation from that little madcap of a Jammes broke -the smile of the managers so brutally that the expression of distress -and dismay that lay beneath it became apparent to all eyes: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -Jammes yelled these words in a tone of unspeakable terror; and her -finger pointed, among the crowd of dandies, to a face so pallid, -so lugubrious and so ugly, with two such deep black cavities -under the straddling eyebrows, that the death's head in question -immediately scored a huge success. - -"The Opera ghost! The Opera ghost!" Everybody laughed and pushed -his neighbor and wanted to offer the Opera ghost a drink, but he -was gone. He had slipped through the crowd; and the others vainly -hunted for him, while two old gentlemen tried to calm little Jammes -and while little Giry stood screaming like a peacock. - -Sorelli was furious; she had not been able to finish her speech; -the managers, had kissed her, thanked her and run away as fast as -the ghost himself. No one was surprised at this, for it was known -that they were to go through the same ceremony on the floor above, -in the foyer of the singers, and that finally they were themselves -to receive their personal friends, for the last time, in the great -lobby outside the managers' office, where a regular supper would -be served. - -Here they found the new managers, M. Armand Moncharmin and -M. Firmin Richard, whom they hardly knew; nevertheless, they were -lavish in protestations of friendship and received a thousand -flattering compliments in reply, so that those of the guests who had -feared that they had a rather tedious evening in store for them -at once put on brighter faces. The supper was almost gay and a -particularly clever speech of the representative of the government, -mingling the glories of the past with the successes of the future, -caused the greatest cordiality to prevail. - -The retiring managers had already handed over to their successors -the two tiny master-keys which opened all the doors--thousands of doors-- -of the Opera house. And those little keys, the object of general curiosity, -were being passed from hand to hand, when the attention of some of -the guests was diverted by their discovery, at the end of the table, -of that strange, wan and fantastic face, with the hollow eyes, -which had already appeared in the foyer of the ballet and been -greeted by little Jammes' exclamation: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -There sat the ghost, as natural as could be, except that he neither -ate nor drank. Those who began by looking at him with a smile ended -by turning away their heads, for the sight of him at once provoked -the most funereal thoughts. No one repeated the joke of the foyer, -no one exclaimed: - -"There's the Opera ghost!" - -He himself did not speak a word and his very neighbors could not -have stated at what precise moment he had sat down between them; -but every one felt that if the dead did ever come and sit at -the table of the living, they could not cut a more ghastly figure. -The friends of Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin thought that this -lean and skinny guest was an acquaintance of Debienne's or Poligny's, -while Debienne's and Poligny's friends believed that the cadaverous -individual belonged to Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin's party. - -The result was that no request was made for an explanation; -no unpleasant remark; no joke in bad taste, which might have offended -this visitor from the tomb. A few of those present who knew the story -of the ghost and the description of him given by the chief scene-shifter-- -they did not know of Joseph Buquet's death--thought, in their own minds, -that the man at the end of the table might easily have passed for him; -and yet, according to the story, the ghost had no nose and the person -in question had. But M. Moncharmin declares, in his Memoirs, -that the guest's nose was transparent: "long, thin and transparent" -are his exact words. I, for my part, will add that this might -very well apply to a false nose. M. Moncharmin may have taken -for transparcncy what was only shininess. Everybody knows -that orthopaedic science provides beautiful false noses for -those who have lost their noses naturally or as the result of an operation. - -Did the ghost really take a seat at the managers' supper-table -that night, uninvited? And can we be sure that the figure was -that of the Opera ghost himself? Who would venture to assert -as much? I mention the incident, not because I wish for a second -to make the reader believe--or even to try to make him believe-- -that the ghost was capable of such a sublime piece of impudence; -but because, after all, the thing is impossible. - -M. Armand Moncharmin, in chapter eleven of his Memoirs, says: - -"When I think of this first evening, I can not separate the secret -confided to us by MM. Debienne and Poligny in their office from -the presence at our supper of that GHOSTLY person whom none of us knew." - -What happened was this: Mm. Debienne and Poligny, sitting at -the center of the table, had not seen the man with the death's head. -Suddenly he began to speak. - -"The ballet-girls are right," he said. "The death of that poor -Buquet is perhaps not so natural as people think." - -Debienne and Poligny gave a start. - -"Is Buquet dead?" they cried. - -"Yes," replied the man, or the shadow of a man, quietly. "He was found, -this evening, hanging in the third cellar, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore." - -The two managers, or rather ex-managers, at once rose and stared -strangely at the speaker. They were more excited than they need -have been, that is to say, more excited than any one need be by -the announcement of the suicide of a chief scene-shifter. They looked -at each other. They, had both turned whiter than the table-cloth. -At last, Debienne made a sign to Mm. Richard and Moncharmin; -Poligny muttered a few words of excuse to the guests; and all four -went into the managers' office. I leave M. Mencharmin to complete -the story. In his Memoirs, he says: - -"Mm. Debienne and Poligny seemed to grow more and more excited, -and they appeared to have something very difficult to tell us. -First, they asked us if we knew the man, sitting at the end of the table, -who had told them of the death of Joseph Buquet; and, when we answered -in the negative, they looked still more concerned. They took the -master-keys from our hands, stared at them for a moment and advised -us to have new locks made, with the greatest secrecy, for the rooms, -closets and presses that we might wish to have hermetically closed. -They said this so funnily that we began to laugh and to ask if there -were thieves at the Opera. They replied that there was something worse, -which was the GHOST. We began to laugh again, feeling sure that -they were indulging in some joke that was intended to crown our -little entertainment. Then, at their request, we became `serious,' -resolving to humor them and to enter into the spirit of the game. -They told us that they never would have spoken to us of the ghost, -if they had not received formal orders from the ghost himself -to ask us to be pleasant to him and to grant any request that he -might make. However, in their relief at leaving a domain where -that tyrannical shade held sway, they had hesitated until the last -moment to tell us this curious story, which our skeptical minds -were certainly not prepared to entertain. But the announcement of -the death of Joseph Buquet had served them as a brutal reminder that, -whenever they had disregarded the ghost's wishes, some fantastic -or disastrous event had brought them to a sense of their dependence. - -"During these unexpected utterances made in a tone of the most secret -and important confidence, I looked at Richard. Richard, in his -student days, had acquired a great reputation for practical joking, -and he seemed to relish the dish which was being served up to him -in his turn. He did not miss a morsel of it, though the seasoning -was a little gruesome because of the death of Buquet. He nodded -his head sadly, while the others spoke, and his features assumed -the air of a man who bitterly regretted having taken over the Opera, -now that he knew that there was a ghost mixed up in the business. -I could think of nothing better than to give him a servile imitation -of this attitude of despair. However, in spite of all our efforts, -we could not, at the finish, help bursting out laughing in the faces -of MM. Debienne and Poligny, who, seeing us pass straight from -the gloomiest state of mind to one of the most insolent merriment, -acted as though they thought that we had gone mad. - -"The joke became a little tedious; and Richard asked half-seriously -and half in jest: - -"`But, after all, what does this ghost of yours want?' - -"M. Poligny went to his desk and returned with a copy of the -memorandum-book. The memorandum-book begins with the well-known -words saying that `the management of the Opera shall give to -the performance of the National Academy of Music the splendor that -becomes the first lyric stage in France' and ends with Clause 98, -which says that the privilege can be withdrawn if the manager -infringes the conditions stipulated in the memorandum-book. -This is followed by the conditions, which are four in number. - -"The copy produced by M. Poligny was written in black ink -and exactly similar to that in our possession, except that, -at the end, it contained a paragraph in red ink and in a queer, -labored handwriting, as though it had been produced by dipping -the heads of matches into the ink, the writing of a child -that has never got beyond the down-strokes and has not learned -to join its letters. This paragraph ran, word for word, as follows: - -"`5. Or if the manager, in any month, delay for more than a fortnight -the payment of the allowance which he shall make to the Opera ghost, -an allowance of twenty thousand francs a month, say two hundred -and forty thousand francs a year.' - -"M. Poligny pointed with a hesitating finger to this last clause, -which we certainly did not expect. - -"`Is this all? Does he not want anything else?' asked Richard, -with the greatest coolness. - -"`Yes, he does,' replied Poligny. - -"And he turned over the pages of the memorandum-book until he -came to the clause specifying the days on which certain private -boxes were to be reserved for the free use of the president of -the republic, the ministers and so on. At the end of this clause, -a line had been added, also in red ink: - -"`Box Five on the grand tier shall be placed at the disposal -of the Opera ghost for every performance.' - -"When we saw this, there was nothing else for us to do but to rise -from our chairs, shake our two predecessors warmly by the hand -and congratulate them on thinking of this charming little joke, -which proved that the old French sense of humor was never likely -to become extinct. Richard added that he now understood why MM. -Debienne and Poligny were retiring from the management of the National -Academy of Music. Business was impossible with so unreasonable -a ghost. - -"`Certainly, two hundred and forty thousand francs are not be picked up -for the asking,' said M. Poligny, without moving a muscle of his face. -`And have you considered what the loss over Box Five meant to us? -We did not sell it once; and not only that, but we had to return -the subscription: why, it's awful! We really can't work to keep ghosts! -We prefer to go away!' - -"`Yes,' echoed M. Debienne, `we prefer to go away. Let us go.' - -"And he stood up. Richard said: `But, after all all, it seems -to me that you were much too kind to the ghost. If I had such -a troublesome ghost as that, I should not hesitate to have him arrested.' - -"`But how? Where?' they cried, in chorus. `We have never seen him!' - -"`But when he comes to his box?' - -"'WE HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM IN HIS BOX.' - -"`Then sell it.' - -"`Sell the Opera ghost's box! Well, gentlemen, try it.' - -"Thereupon we all four left the office. Richard and I had `never -laughed so much in our lives.'" - - - -Chapter IV Box Five - - -Armand Moncharmin wrote such voluminous Memoirs during the fairly long -period of his co-management that we may well ask if he ever found -time to attend to the affairs of the Opera otherwise than by telling -what went on there. M. Moncharmin did not know a note of music, -but he called the minister of education and fine arts by his -Christian name, had dabbled a little in society journalism and enjoyed -a considerable private income. Lastly, he was a charming fellow -and showed that he was not lacking in intelligence, for, as soon as he -made up his mind to be a sleeping partner in the Opera, he selected -the best possible active manager and went straight to Firmin Richard. - -Firmin Richard was a very distinguished composer, who had published -a number of successful pieces of all kinds and who liked nearly every -form of music and every sort of musician. Clearly, therefore, it was -the duty of every sort of musician to like M. Firmin Richard. -The only things to be said against him were that he was rather -masterful in his ways and endowed with a very hasty temper. - -The first few days which the partners spent at the Opera were given -over to the delight of finding themselves the head of so magnificent -an enterprise; and they had forgotten all about that curious, -fantastic story of the ghost, when an incident occurred that -proved to them that the joke--if joke it were--was not over. -M. Firmin Richard reached his office that morning at eleven -o'clock. His secretary, M. Remy, showed him half a dozen letters -which he had not opened because they were marked "private." -One of the letters had at once attracted Richard's attention not -only because the envelope was addressed in red ink, but because he -seemed to have seen the writing before. He soon rememberd that it -was the red handwriting in which the memorandum-book had been -so curiously completed. He recognized the clumsy childish hand. -He opened the letter and read: - -DEAR MR. MANAGER: - -I am sorry to have to trouble you at a time when you must be -so very busy, renewing important engagements, signing fresh ones -and generally displaying your excellent taste. I know what you -have done for Carlotta, Sorelli and little Jammes and for a few -others whose admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected. - -Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them -to La Carlotta, who sings like a squirt and who ought never to -have been allowed to leave the Ambassadeurs and the Cafe Jacquin; -nor to La Sorelli, who owes her success mainly to the coach-builders; -nor to little Jammes, who dances like a calf in a field. And I am -not speaking of Christine Daae either, though her genius is certain, -whereas your jealousy prevents her from creating any important part. -When all is said, you are free to conduct your little business as you -think best, are you not? - -All the same, I should like to take advantage of the fact that you -have not yet turned Christine Daae out of doors by hearing her -this evening in the part of Siebel, as that of Margarita has been -forbidden her since her triumph of the other evening; and I will -ask you not to dispose of my box to-day nor on the FOLLOWING DAYS, -for I can not end this letter without telling you how disagreeably -surprised I have been once or twice, to hear, on arriving at the Opera, -that my box had been sold, at the box-office, by your orders. - -I did not protest, first, because I dislike scandal, and, second, -because I thought that your predecessors, MM. Debienne and Poligny, -who were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, -to mention my little fads to you. I have now received a reply -from those gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, -and this reply proves that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, -consequently, that you are treating me with outrageous contempt. -IF YOU WISH TO LIVE IN PEACE, YOU MUST NOT BEGIN BY TAKING AWAY -MY PRIVATE BOX. - -Believe me to be, dear Mr. Manager, without prejudice to these -little observations, - Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant, - OPERA GHOST. - -The letter was accompanied by a cutting from the agony-column -of the Revue Theatrale, which ran: - -O. G.--There is no excuse for R. and M. We told them and left -your memorandum-book in their hands. Kind regards. - -M. Firmin Richard had hardly finished reading this letter when -M. Armand Moncharmin entered, carrying one exactly similar. -They looked at each other and burst out laughing. - -"They are keeping up the joke," said M. Richard, "but I don't call -it funny." - -"What does it all mean?" asked M. Moncharmin. "Do they imagine that, -because they have been managers of the Opera, we are going to let -them have a box for an indefinite period?" - -"I am not in the mood to let myself be laughed at long," -said Firmin Richard. - -"It's harmless enough," observed Armand Moncharmin. "What is it -they really want? A box for to-night?" - -M. Firmin Richard told his secretary to send Box Five on the grand -tier to Mm. Debienne and Poligny, if it was not sold. It was not. -It was sent off to them. Debienne lived at the corner of the Rue -Scribe and the Boulevard des Capucines; Poligny, in the Rue Auber. -O. Ghost's two letters had been posted at the Boulevard des -Capucines post-office, as Moncharmin remarked after examining -the envelopes. - -"You see!" said Richard. - -They shrugged their shoulders and regretted that two men of that age -should amuse themselves with such childish tricks. - -"They might have been civil, for all that!" said Moncharmin. -"Did you notice how they treat us with regard to Carlotta, -Sorelli and Little Jammes?" - -"Why, my dear fellow, these two are mad with jealousy! To think that -they went to the expense of, an advertisement in the Revue Theatrale! -Have they nothing better to do?" - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "they seem to be greatly interested -in that little Christine Daae!" - -"You know as well as I do that she has the reputation of being -quite good," said Richard. - -"Reputations are easily obtained," replied Moncharmin. "Haven't I -a reputation for knowing all about music? And I don't know one key -from another." - -"Don't be afraid: you never had that reputation," Richard declared. - -Thereupon he ordered the artists to be shown in, who, for the last -two hours, had been walking up and down outside the door behind -which fame and fortune--or dismissal--awaited them. - -The whole day was spent in discussing, negotiating, signing or -cancelling contracts; and the two overworked managers went -to bed early, without so much as casting a glance at Box Five -to see whether M. Debienne and M. Poligny were enjoying the performance. - -Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost: - -DEAR, MR. MANAGER: - -Thanks. Charming evening. Daae exquisite. Choruses want waking up. -Carlotta a splendid commonplace instrument. Will write you soon -for the 240,000 francs, or 233,424 fr. 70 c., to be correct. -Mm. Debienne and Poligny have sent me the 6,575 fr. 30 c. -representing the first ten days of my allowance for the current year; -their privileges finished on the evening of the tenth inst. - -Kind regards. O. G. - -On the other hand, there was a letter from Mm. Debienne and Poligny: - -GENTLEMEN: - -We are much obliged for your kind thought of us, but you will -easily understand that the prospect of again hearing Faust, -pleasant though it is to ex-managers of the Opera, can not make us -forget that we have no right to occupy Box Five on the grand tier, -which is the exclusive property of HIM of whom we spoke to you when -we went through the memorandum-book with you for the last time. -See Clause 98, final paragraph. - -Accept, gentlemen, etc. - -"Oh, those fellows are beginning to annoy me!" shouted Firmin Richard, -snatching up the letter. - -And that evening Box Five was sold. - -The next morning, Mm. Richard and Moncharmin, on reaching their office, -found an inspector's report relating to an incident that had happened, -the night before, in Box Five. I give the essential part of the report: - -I was obliged to call in a municipal guard twice, this evening, -to clear Box Five on the grand tier, once at the beginning and once -in the middle of the second act. The occupants, who arrived -as the curtain rose on the second act, created a regular scandal -by their laughter and their ridiculous observations. There -were cries of "Hush!" all around them and the whole house was -beginning to protest, when the box-keeper came to fetch me. I entered -the box and said what I thought necessary. The people did not seem -to me to be in their right mind; and they made stupid remarks. -I said that, if the noise was repeated, I should be compelled -to clear the box. The moment I left, I heard the laughing again, -with fresh protests from the house. I returned with a municipal -guard, who turned them out. They protested, still laughing, -saying they would not go unless they had their money back. At last, -they became quiet and I allowed them to enter the box again. -The laughter at once recommenced; and, this time, I had them turned -out definitely. - -"Send for the inspector," said Richard to his secretary, who had -already read the report and marked it with blue pencil. - -M. Remy, the secretary, had foreseen the order and called -the inspector at once. - -"Tell us what happened," said Richard bluntly. - -The inspector began to splutter and referred to the report. - -"Well, but what were those people laughing at?" asked Moncharmin. - -"They must have been dining, sir, and seemed more inclined to lark -about than to listen to good music. The moment they entered the box, -they came out again and called the box-keeper, who asked them what -they wanted. They said, `Look in the box: there's no one there, -is there?' `No,' said the woman. `Well,' said they, `when we went in, -we heard a voice saying THAT THE BOX WAS TAKEN!'" - -M. Moncharmin could not help smiling as he looked at M. Richard; -but M. Richard did not smile. He himself had done too much in -that way in his time not to recognize, in the inspector's story, -all the marks of one of those practical jokes which begin -by amusing and end by enraging the victims. The inspector, -to curry favor with M. Moncharmin, who was smiling, thought it -best to give a smile too. A most unfortunate smile! M. Richard -glared at his subordinate, who thenceforth made it his business -to display a face of utter consternation. - -"However, when the people arrived," roared Richard, "there was -no one in the box, was there?" - -"Not a soul, sir, not a soul! Nor in the box on the right, nor in -the box on the left: not a soul, sir, I swear! The box-keeper -told it me often enough, which proves that it was all a joke." - -"Oh, you agree, do you?" said Richard. "You agree! It's a joke! -And you think it funny, no doubt?" - -"I think it in very bad taste, sir." - -"And what did the box-keeper say?" - -"Oh, she just said that it was the Opera ghost. That's all she said!" - -And the inspector grinned. But he soon found that he had made -a mistake in grinning, for the words had no sooner left his mouth -than M. Richard, from gloomy, became furious. - -"Send for the box-keeper!" he shouted. "Send for her! This minute! -This minute! And bring her in to me here! And turn all those -people out!" - -The inspector tried to protest, but Richard closed his mouth -with an angry order to hold his tongue. Then, when the wretched -man's lips seemed shut for ever, the manager commanded him to open -them once more. - -"Who is this `Opera ghost?'" he snarled. - -But the inspector was by this time incapable of speaking a word. -He managed to convey, by a despairing gesture, that he knew nothing -about it, or rather that he did not wish to know. - -"Have you ever seen him, have you seen the Opera ghost?" - -The inspector, by means of a vigorous shake of the head, denied ever -having seen the ghost in question. - -"Very well!" said M. Richard coldly. - -The inspector's eyes started out of his head, as though to ask why -the manager had uttered that ominous "Very well!" - -"Because I'm going to settle the account of any one who has not -seen him!" explained the manager. "As he seems to be everywhere, -I can't have people telling me that they see him nowhere. -I like people to work for me when I employ them!" - -Having said this, M. Richard paid no attention to the inspector -and discussed various matters of business with his acting-manager, -who had entered the room meanwhile. The inspector thought he -could go and was gently--oh, so gently!--sidling toward the door, -when M. Richard nailed the man to the floor with a thundering: - -"Stay where you are!" - -M. Remy had sent for the box-keeper to the Rue de Provence, -close to the Opera, where she was engaged as a porteress. -She soon made her appearance. - -"What's your name?" - -"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother -of little Giry, little Meg, what!" - -This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, -M. Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, -her worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite -evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know -or could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, -nor even "little Meg!" But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that -the celebrated box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her. - -"Never heard of her!" the manager declared. "But that's no reason, -Mme. Giry, why I shouldn't ask you what happened last night to make -you and the inspector call in a municipal guard - -"I was just wanting to see you, sir, and talk to you about it, -so that you mightn't have the same unpleasantness as M. Debienne -and M. Poligny. They wouldn't listen to me either, at first." - -"I'm not asking you about all that. I'm asking what happened -last night." - -Mme. Giry turned purple with indignation. Never had she been -spoken to like that. She rose as though to go, gathering up -the folds of her skirt and waving the feathers of her dingy bonnet -with dignity, but, changing her mind, she sat down again and said, -in a haughty voice: - -"I'll tell you what happened. The ghost was annoyed again!" - -Thereupon, as M. Richard was on the point of bursting out, M. Moncharmin -interfered and conducted the interrogatory, whence it appeared -that Mme. Giry thought it quite natural that a voice should be heard -to say that a box was taken, when there was nobody in the box. -She was unable to explain this phenomenon, which was not new to her, -except by the intervention of the ghost. Nobody could see the ghost -in his box, but everybody could hear him. She had often heard him; -and they could believe her, for she always spoke the truth. -They could ask M. Debienne and M. Poligny, and anybody who knew her; -and also M. Isidore Saack, who had had a leg broken by the ghost! - -"Indeed!" said Moncharmin, interrupting her. "Did the ghost break -poor Isidore Saack's leg?" - -Mme. Giry opened her eyes with astonishment at such ignorance. -However, she consented to enlighten those two poor innocents. -The thing had happened in M. Debienne and M. Poligny's time, also in -Box Five and also during a performance of FAUST. Mme. Giry coughed, -cleared her throat--it sounded as though she were preparing to sing -the whole of Gounod's score--and began: - -"It was like this, sir. That night, M. Maniera and his lady, -the jewelers in the Rue Mogador, were sitting in the front of the box, -with their great friend, M. Isidore Saack, sitting behind Mme. Maniera. -Mephistopheles was singing"--Mme. Giry here burst into song herself--" -`Catarina, while you play at sleeping,' and then M. Maniera heard -a voice in his right ear (his wife was on his left) saying, `Ha, ha! -Julie's not playing at sleeping!' His wife happened to be called -Julie. So. M. Maniera turns to the right to see who was talking -to him like that. Nobody there! He rubs his ear and asks himself, -if he's dreaming. Then Mephistopheles went on with his serenade. -... But, perhaps I'm boring you gentlemen?" - -"No, no, go on." - -"You are too good, gentlemen," with a smirk. "Well, then, -Mephistopheles went on with his serenade"--Mme. Giry, burst into -song again--" `Saint, unclose thy portals holy and accord the bliss, -to a mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss.' And then M. Maniera -again hears the voice in his right ear, saying, this time, `Ha, ha! -Julie wouldn't mind according a kiss to Isidore!' Then he turns -round again, but, this time, to the left; and what do you think -he sees? Isidore, who had taken his lady's hand and was covering -it with kisses through the little round place in the glove-- -like this, gentlemen"--rapturously kissing the bit of palm left bare -in the middle of her thread gloves. "Then they had a lively time -between them! Bang! Bang! M. Maniera, who was big and strong, -like you, M. Richard, gave two blows to M. Isidore Saack, -who was small and weak like M. Moncharmin, saving his presence. -There was a great uproar. People in the house shouted, `That will do! -Stop them! He'll kill him!' Then, at last, M. Isidore Saack managed -to run away." - -"Then the ghost had not broken his leg?" asked M. Moncharmin, -a little vexed that his figure had made so little impression on -Mme. Giry. - -"He did break it for him, sir," replied Mme. Giry haughtily. -"He broke it for him on the grand staircase, which he ran down -too fast, sir, and it will be long before the poor gentleman will -be able to go up it again!" - -"Did the ghost tell you what he said in M. Maniera's right ear?" -asked M. Moncharmin, with a gravity which he thought exceedingly humorous. - -"No, sir, it was M. Maniera himself. So----" - -"But you have spoken to the ghost, my good lady?" - -"As I'm speaking to you now, my good sir!" Mme. Giry replied. - -"And, when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?" - -"Well, he tells me to bring him a footstool!" - -This time, Richard burst out laughing, as did Moncharmin and Remy, -the secretary. Only the inspector, warned by experience, was careful -not to laugh, while Mme. Giry ventured to adopt an attitude that -was positively threatening. - -"Instead of laughing," she cried indignantly, "you'd do better -to do as M. Poligny did, who found out for himself." - -"Found out about what?" asked Moncharmin, who had never been so much -amused in his life. - -"About the ghost, of course!...Look here..." - -She suddenly calmed herself, feeling that this was a solemn moment -in her life: - -"LOOK HERE," she repeated. "They were playing La Juive. M. Poligny -thought he would watch the performance from the ghost's box. -...Well, when Leopold cries, `Let us fly!'--you know--and Eleazer -stops them and says, `Whither go ye?'...well, M. Poligny-- -I was watching him from the back of the next box, which was empty-- -M. Poligny got up and walked out quite stiffly, like a statue, -and before I had time to ask him, `Whither go ye?' like Eleazer, -he was down the staircase, but without breaking his leg. - -"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask -you for a footstool," insisted M. Moncharmin. - -"Well, from that evening, no one tried to take the ghost's private -box from him. The manager gave orders that he was to have it at -each performance. And, whenever he came, he asked me for a footstool." - -"Tut, tut! A ghost asking for a footstool! Then this ghost -of yours is a woman?" - -"No, the ghost is a man." - -"How do you know?" - -"He has a man's voice, oh, such a lovely man's voice! This is -what happens: When he comes to the opera, it's usually in the middle -of the first act. He gives three little taps on the door of Box Five. -The first time I heard those three taps, when I knew there was -no one in the box, you can think how puzzled I was! I opened -the door, listened, looked; nobody! And then I heard a voice say, -`Mme. Jules' my poor husband's name was Jules--`a footstool, please.' -Saving your presence, gentlemen, it made me feel all-overish like. -But the voice went on, `Don't be frightened, Mme. Jules, I'm the -Opera ghost!' And the voice was so soft and kind that I hardly -felt frightened. THE VOICE WAS SITTING IN THE CORNER CHAIR, -ON THE RIGHT, IN THE FRONT ROW." - -"Was there any one in the box on the right of Box Five?" -asked Moncharmin. - -"No; Box Seven, and Box Three, the one on the left, were both empty. -The curtain had only just gone up." - -"And what did you do?" - -"Well, I brought the footstool. Of course, it wasn't for himself -he wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her." - -"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!" The eyes of the two -managers traveled from Mme. Giry to the inspector, who, standing behind -the box-keeper, was waving his arms to attract their attention. -He tapped his forehead with a distressful forefinger, to convey -his opinion that the widow Jules Giry was most certainly mad, -a piece of pantomime which confirmed M. Richard in his determination -to get rid of an inspector who kept a lunatic in his service. -Meanwhile, the worthy lady went on about her ghost, now painting -his generosity: - -"At the end of the performance, he always gives me two francs, -sometimes five, sometimes even ten, when he has been many days -without coming. Only, since people have begun to annoy him again, -he gives me nothing at all. - -"Excuse me, my good woman," said Moncharmin, while Mme. Giry tossed -the feathers in her dingy hat at this persistent familiarity, -"excuse me, how does the ghost manage to give you your two francs?" - -"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course. -I find them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, -I find flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his -lady's bodice...for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, -they left a fan behind them." - -"Oh, the ghost left a fan, did he? And what did you do with it?" - -"Well, I brought it back to the box next night." - -Here the inspector's voice was raised. - -"You've broken the rules; I shall have to fine you, Mme. Giry." - -"Hold your tongue, you fool!" muttered M. Firmin Richard. - -"You brought back the fan. And then?" - -"Well, then, they took it away with them, sir; it was not there -at the end of the performance; and in its place they left me a box -of English sweets, which I'm very fond of. That's one of the ghost's -pretty thoughts." - -"That will do, Mme. Giry. You can go." - -When Mme. Giry had bowed herself out, with the dignity that never -deserted her, the manager told the inspector that they had decided -to dispense with that old madwoman's services; and, when he -had gone in his turn, they instructed the acting-manager to make -up the inspector's accounts. Left alone, the managers told -each other of the idea which they both had in mind, which was -that they should look into that little matter of Box Five themselves. - - - -Chapter V The Enchanted Violin - - -Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, -did not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera. After the -famous gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; -but this was the last occasion on which she was heard in private. -She refused, without plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert -to which she had promised her assistance. She acted throughout -as though she were no longer the mistress of her own destiny and as -though she feared a fresh triumph. - -She knew that the Comte de Chagny, to please his brother, had done -his best on her behalf with M. Richard; and she wrote to thank him -and also to ask him to cease speaking in her favor. Her reason -for this curious attitude was never known. Some pretended that it -was due to overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty. -But people on the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think -that I shall not be far from the truth if I ascribe her action -simply to fear. Yes, I believe that Christine Daae was frightened -by what had happened to her. I have a letter of Christine's (it -forms part of the Persian's collection), relating to this period, -which suggests a feeling of absolute dismay: - -"I don't know myself when I sing," writes the poor child. - -She showed herself nowhere; and the Vicomte de Chagny tried -in vain to meet her. He wrote to her, asking to call upon her, -but despaired of receiving a reply when, one morning, she sent -him the following note: - -MONSIEUR: - -I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea -to rescue my scarf. I feel that I must write to you to-day, -when I am going to Perros, in fulfilment of a sacred duty. -To-morrow is the anniversary of the death of my poor father, -whom you knew and who was very fond of you. He is buried there, -with his violin, in the graveyard of the little church, at the bottom -of the slope where we used to play as children, beside the road where, -when we were a little bigger, we said good-by for the last time. - -The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, -dressed as quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet -to take to his brother and jumped into a cab which brought him -to the Gare Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train. -He spent a dismal day in town and did not recover his spirits -until the evening, when he was seated in his compartment in the -Brittany express. He read Christine's note over and over again, -smelling its perfume, recalling the sweet pictures of his childhood, -and spent the rest of that tedious night journey in feverish dreams -that began and ended with Christine Daae. Day was breaking when he -alighted at Lannion. He hurried to the diligence for Perros-Guirec. -He was the only passenger. He questioned the driver and learned that, -on the evening of the previous day, a young lady who looked -like a Parisian had gone to Perros and put up at the inn known -as the Setting Sun. - -The nearer he drew to her, the more fondly he remembered the story -of the little Swedish singer. Most of the details are still unknown -to the public. - -There was once, in a little market-town not far from Upsala, a peasant -who lived there with his family, digging the earth during the week -and singing in the choir on Sundays. This peasant had a little daughter -to whom he taught the musical alphabet before she knew how to read. -Daae's father was a great musician, perhaps without knowing it. -Not a fiddler throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia -played as he did. His reputation was widespread and he was always -invited to set the couples dancing at weddings and other festivals. -His wife died when Christine was entering upon her sixth year. -Then the father, who cared only for his daughter and his music, sold his -patch of ground and went to Upsala in search of fame and fortune. -He found nothing but poverty. - -He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, -strumming his Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never -left his side, listened to him in esctasy or sang to his playing. -One day, at Ljimby Fair, Professor Valerius heard them and took -them to Gothenburg. He maintained that the father was the first -violinist in the world and that the daughter had the making of a -great artist. Her education and instruction were provided for. -She made rapid progress and charmed everybody with her prettiness, -her grace of manner and her genuine eagerness to please. - -When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae -and Christine with them. "Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as -her daughter. As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness. -He never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream -which he kept up with his violin. For hours at a time, he remained -locked up in his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, -very, very softly. Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen -behind the door, wipe away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, -sighing for her Scandinavian skies. - -Daae seemed not to recover his strength until the summer, -when the whole family went to stay at Perros-Guirec, in a far-away -corner of Brittany, where the sea was of the same color as in his -own country. Often he would play his saddest tunes on the beach -and pretend that the sea stopped its roaring to listen to them. -And then he induced Mamma Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his. -At the time of the "pardons," or Breton pilgrimages, the village -festival and dances, he went off with his fiddle, as in the old days, -and was allowed to take his daughter with him for a week. -They gave the smallest hamlets music to last them for a year and -slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at the inn, lying close -together on the straw, as when they were so poor in Sweden. -At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no collection, -refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around could -not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped -the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven. -They followed them from village to village. - -One day, a little boy, who was out with his governess, made her take -a longer walk than he intended, for he could not tear himself from -the little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed to bind him to her. -They came to the shore of an inlet which is still called Trestraou, -but which now, I believe, harbors a casino or something of the sort. -At that time, there was nothing but sky and sea and a stretch -of golden beach. Only, there was also a high wind, which blew -Christine's scarf out to sea. Christine gave a cry and put out -her arms, but the scarf was already far on the waves. Then she heard -a voice say: - -"It's all right, I'll go and fetch your scarf out of the sea." - -And she saw a little boy running fast, in spite of the outcries -and the indignant protests of a worthy lady in black. The little boy -ran into the sea, dressed as he was, and brought her back her scarf. -Boy and scarf were both soaked through. The lady in black made a -great fuss, but Christine laughed merrily and kissed the little boy, -who was none other than the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, staying at -Lannion with his aunt. - -During the season, they saw each other and played together almost -every day. At the aunt's request, seconded by Professor Valerius, -Daae consented to give the young viscount some violin lessons. -In this way, Raoul learned to love the same airs that had charmed -Christine's childhood. They also both had the same calm and dreamy -little cast of mind. They delighted in stories, in old Breton legends; -and their favorite sport was to go and ask for them at the cottage-doors, -like beggars: - -"Ma'am..." or, "Kind gentleman...have you a little story -to tell us, please?" - -And it seldom happened that they did not have one "given" them; -for nearly every old Breton grandame has, at least once in her life, -seen the "korrigans" dance by moonlight on the heather. - -But their great treat was, in the twilight, in the great silence -of the evening, after the sun had set in the sea, when Daae came -and sat down by them on the roadside and, in a low voice, as though -fearing lest he should frighten the ghosts whom he evoked, told them -the legends of the land of the North. And, the moment he stopped, -the children would ask for more. - -There was one story that began: - -"A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep, still lakes -that open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian mountains..." - -And another: - -"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden -as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes. -She wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her -frock and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, -when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music." - -While the old man told this story, Raoul looked at Christine's -blue eyes and golden hair; and Christine thought that Lotte was -very lucky to hear the Angel of Music when she went to sleep. -The Angel of Music played a part in all Daddy Daae's tales; -and he maintained that every great musician, every great artist -received a visit from the Angel at least once in his life. -Sometimes the Angel leans over their cradle, as happened to Lotte, -and that is how there are little prodigies who play the fiddle -at six better than men at fifty, which, you must admit, -is very wonderful. Sometimes, the Angel comes much later, -because the children are naughty and won't learn their lessons -or practise their scales. And, sometimes, he does not come at all, -because the children have a bad heart or a bad conscience. - -No one ever sees the Angel; but he is heard by those who are meant -to hear him. He often comes when they least expect him, when they -are sad and disheartened. Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial -harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives. -Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown -to the rest of mankind. And they can not touch an instrument, -or open their mouths to sing, without producing sounds that put -all other human sounds to shame. Then people who do not know -that the Angel has visited those persons say that they have genius. - -Little Christine asked her father if he had heard the Angel of Music. -But Daddy Daae shook his head sadly; and then his eyes lit up, -as he said: - -"You will hear him one day, my child! When I am in Heaven, -I will send him to you!" - -Daddy was beginning to cough at that time. - -Three years later, Raoul and Christine met again at Perros. -Professor Valerius was dead, but his widow remained in France -with Daddy Daae and his daughter, who continued to play the violin -and sing, wrapping in their dream of harmony their kind patroness, -who seemed henceforth to live on music alone. The young man, -as he now was, had come to Perros on the chance of finding them -and went straight to the house in which they used to stay. -He first saw the old man; and then Christine entered, carrying the -tea-tray. She flushed at the sight of Raoul, who went up to her -and kissed her. She asked him a few questions, performed her duties -as hostess prettily, took up the tray again and left the room. -Then she ran into the garden and took refuge on a bench, a prey -to feelings that stirred her young heart for the first time. -Raoul followed her and they talked till the evening, very shyly. -They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each -other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments. -When they took leave of each other by the roadside, Raoul, pressing a -kiss on Christine's trembling hand, said: - -"Mademoiselle, I shall never forget you!" - -And he went away regretting his words, for he knew that Christine -could not be the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny. - -As for Christine, she tried not to think of him and devoted herself -wholly to her art. She made wonderful progress and those who heard -her prophesied that she would be the greatest singer in the world. -Meanwhile, the father died; and, suddenly, she seemed to have lost, -with him, her voice, her soul and her genius. She retained just, -but only just, enough of this to enter the CONSERVATOIRE, where she -did not distinguish herself at all, attending the classes without -enthusiasm and taking a prize only to please old Mamma Valerius, -with whom she continued to live. - -The first time that Raoul saw Christine at the Opera, he was charmed -by the girl's beauty and by the sweet images of the past which -it evoked, but was rather surprised at the negative side of her art. -He returned to listen to her. He followed her in the wings. He waited -for her behind a Jacob's ladder. He tried to attract her attention. -More than once, he walked after her to the door of her box, but she -did not see him. She seemed, for that matter, to see nobody. -She was all indifference. Raoul suffered, for she was very beautiful -and he was shy and dared not confess his love, even to himself. -And then came the lightning-flash of the gala performance: -the heavens torn asunder and an angel's voice heard upon earth for -the delight of mankind and the utter capture of his heart. - -And then...and then there was that man's voice behind -the door--"You must love me!"--and no one in the room. ... - -Why did she laugh when he reminded her of the incident of the scarf? -Why did she not recognize him? And why had she written to him?... - -Perros was reached at last. Raoul walked into the smoky sitting-room -of the Setting Sun and at once saw Christine standing before him, -smiling and showing no astonishment. - -"So you have come," she said. "I felt that I should find you here, -when I came back from mass. Some one told me so, at the church." - -"Who?" asked Raoul, taking her little hand in his. - -"Why, my poor father, who is dead." - -There was a silence; and then Raoul asked: - -"Did your father tell you that I love you, Christine, and that I -can not live without you?" - -Christine blushed to the eyes and turned away her head. -In a trembling voice, she said: - -"Me? You are dreaming, my friend!" - -And she burst out laughing, to put herself in countenance. - -"Don't laugh, Christine; I am quite serious," Raoul answered. - -And she replied gravely: "I did not make you come to tell me -such things as that." - -"You `made me come,' Christine; you knew that your letter would -not leave me indignant and that I should hasten to Perros. -How can you have thought that, if you did not think I loved you?" - -"I thought you would remember our games here, as children, in which -my father so often joined. I really don't know what I thought. -... Perhaps I was wrong to write to you....This anniversary -and your sudden appearance in my room at the Opera, the other evening, -reminded me of the time long past and made me write to you as -the little girl that I then was. ..." - -There was something in Christine's attitude that seemed to Raoul -not natural. He did not feel any hostility in her; far from it: -the distressed affection shining in her eyes told him that. -But why was this affection distressed? That was what he wished to know -and what was irritating him. - -"When you saw me in your dressing-room, was that the first time -you noticed me, Christine?" - -She was incapable of lying. - -"No," she said, "I had seen you several times in your brother's box. -And also on the stage." - -"I thought so!" said Raoul, compressing his lips. "But then why, -when you saw me in your room, at your feet, reminding you that I -had rescued your scarf from the sea, why did you answer as though -you did not know me and also why did you laugh?" - -The tone of these questions was so rough that Christine stared -at Raoul without replying. The young man himself was aghast at -the sudden quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment -when he had resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and -submission to Christine. A husband, a lover with all rights, -would talk no differently to a wife, a mistress who had offended him. -But he had gone too far and saw no other way out of the ridiculous -position than to behave odiously. - -"You don't answer!" he said angrily and unhappily. "Well, I will -answer for you. It was because there was some one in the room -who was in your way, Christine, some one that you did not wish -to know that you could be interested in any one else!" - -"If any one was in my way, my friend," Christine broke in coldly, -"if any one was in my way, that evening, it was yourself, since I -told you to leave the room!" - -"Yes, so that you might remain with the other!" - -"What are you saying, monsieur?" asked the girl excitedly. -"And to what other do you refer?" - -"To the man to whom you said, `I sing only for you!...to-night -I gave you my soul and I am dead!'" - -Christine seized Raoul's arm and clutched it with a strength -which no one would have suspected in so frail a creature. - -"Then you were listening behind the door?" - -"Yes, because I love you everything....And I heard everything...." - -"You heard what?" - -And the young girl, becoming strangely calm, released Raoul's arm. - -"He said to you, `Christine, you must love me!'" - -At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, -dark rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the -point of swooning. Raoul darted forward, with arms outstretched, -but Christine had overcome her passing faintness and said, -in a low voice: - -"Go on! Go on! Tell me all you heard!" - -At an utter loss to understand, Raoul answered: "I heard -him reply, when you said you had given him your soul, -`Your soul is a beautiful thing, child, and I thank you. -No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.'" - -Christine carried her hand to her heart, a prey to indescribable -emotion. Her eyes stared before her like a madwoman's. Raoul -was terror-stricken. But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened -and two great tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks. - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul!" - -The young man tried to take her in his arms, but she escaped -and fled in great disorder. - -While Christine remained locked in her room, Raoul was at his wit's -end what to do. He refused to breakfast. He was terribly concerned -and bitterly grieved to see the hours, which he had hoped to find -so sweet, slip past without the presence of the young Swedish girl. -Why did she not come to roam with him through the country where they -had so many memories in common? He heard that she had had a mass said, -that morning, for the repose of her father's soul and spent a long -time praying in the little church and on the fiddler's tomb. -Then, as she seemed to have nothing more to do at Perros and, -in fact, was doing nothing there, why did she not go back to Paris -at once? - -Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church -stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; -but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the -dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground. -They were marvelous red roses that had blossomed in the morning, -in the snow, giving a glimpse of life among the dead, for death was -all around him. It also, like the flowers, issued from the ground, -which had flung back a number of its corpses. Skeletons and skulls -by the hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in -position by a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible. -Dead men's bones, arranged in rows, like bricks, to form the first -course upon which the walls of the sacristy had been built. -The door of the sacristy opened in the middle of that bony structure, -as is often seen in old Breton churches. - -Raoul said a prayer for Daae and then, painfully impressed by all -those eternal smiles on the mouths of skulls, he climbed the slope -and sat down on the edge of the heath overlooking the sea. -The wind fell with the evening. Raoul was surrounded by icy darkness, -but he did not feel the cold. It was here, he remembered, -that he used to come with little Christine to see the Korrigans -dance at the rising of the moon. He had never seen any, though his -eyes were good, whereas Christine, who was a little shortsighted, -pretended that she had seen many. He smiled at the thought and then -suddenly gave a start. A voice behind him said: - -"Do you think the Korrigans will come this evening?" - -It was Christine. He tried to speak. She put her gloved hand -on his mouth. - -"Listen, Raoul. I have decided to tell you something serious, -very serious....Do you remember the legend of the Angel -of Music?" - -"I do indeed," he said. "I believe it was here that your father -first told it to us." - -"And it was here that he said, `When I am in Heaven, my child, -I will send him to you.' Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, -and I have been visited by the Angel of Music." - -"I have no doubt of it," replied the young man gravely, for it -seemed to him that his friend, in obedience to a pious thought, -was connecting the memory of her father with the brilliancy of her -last triumph. - -Christine appeared astonished at the Vicomte de Chagny's coolness: - -"How do you understand it?" she asked, bringing her pale face -so close to his that he might have thought that Christine was going -to give him a kiss; but she only wanted to read his eyes in spite -of the dark. - -"I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you -sang the other evening without the intervention of some miracle. -No professor on earth can teach you such accents as those. -You have heard the Angel of Music, Christine." - -"Yes," she said solemnly, "IN MY DRESSING-ROOM. That is where he -comes to give me my lessons daily." - -"In your dressing-room?" he echoed stupidly. - -"Yes, that is where I have heard him; and I have not been the only -one to hear him." - -"Who else heard him, Christine?" - -"You, my friend." - -"I? I heard the Angel of Music?" - -"Yes, the other evening, it was he who was talking when you were -listening behind the door. It was he who said, `You must love me.' -But I then thought that I was the only one to hear his voice. -Imagine my astonishment when you told me, this morning, that you could -hear him too," - -Raoul burst out laughing. The first rays of the moon came and -shrouded the two young people in their light. Christine turned -on Raoul with a hostile air. Her eyes, usually so gentle, flashed fire. - -"What are you laughing at? YOU think you heard a man's voice, -I suppose?" - -"Well!..." replied the young man, whose ideas began to grow -confused in the face of Christine's determined attitude. - -"It's you, Raoul, who say that? You, an old playfellow of my own! -A friend of my father's! But you have changed since those days. -What are you thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, -and I don't lock myself up in my dressing-room with men's voices. -If you had opened the door, you would have seen that there was nobody -in the room!" - -"That's true! I did open the door, when you were gone, and I found -no one in the room." - -"So you see!...Well?" - -The viscount summoned up all his courage. - -"Well, Christine, I think that somebody is making game of you." - -She gave a cry and ran away. He ran after her, but, in a tone -of fierce anger, she called out: "Leave me! Leave me!" -And she disappeared. - -Raoul returned to the inn feeling very weary, very low-spirited -and very sad. He was told that Christine had gone to her bedroom -saying that she would not be down to dinner. Raoul dined alone, -in a very gloomy mood. Then he went to his room and tried to read, -went to bed and tried to sleep. There was no sound in the next room. - -The hours passed slowly. It was about half-past eleven when he -distinctly heard some one moving, with a light, stealthy step, -in the room next to his. Then Christine had not gone to bed! -Without troubling for a reason, Raoul dressed, taking care not -to make a sound, and waited. Waited for what? How could he tell? -But his heart thumped in his chest when he heard Christine's door -turn slowly on its hinges. Where could she be going, at this hour, -when every one was fast asleep at Perros? Softly opening the door, he saw -Christine's white form, in the moonlight, slipping along the passage. -She went down the stairs and he leaned over the baluster above her. -Suddenly he heard two voices in rapid conversation. He caught -one sentence: "Don't lose the key." - -It was the landlady's voice. The door facing the sea was opened -and locked again. Then all was still. - -Raoul ran back to his room and threw back the window. -Christine's white form stood on the deserted quay. - -The first floor of the Setting Sun was at no great height and a tree -growing against the wall held out its branches to Raoul's impatient -arms and enabled him to climb down unknown to the landlady. -Her amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, -the young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead -than alive, and when she learned that he had been found stretched -at full length on the steps of the high altar of the little church. -She ran at once to tell Christine, who hurried down and, -with the help of the landlady, did her best to revive him. -He soon opened his eyes and was not long in recovering when he saw -his friend's charming face leaning over him. - -A few weeks later, when the tragedy at the Opera compelled the intervention -of the public prosecutor, M. Mifroid, the commissary of police, examined the -Vicomte de Chagny touching the events of the night at Perros. I quote -the questions and answers as given in the official report pp. 150 et seq.: - -Q. "Did Mlle. Daae not see you come down from your room -by the curious road which you selected?" - -R. "No, monsieur, no, although, when walking behind her, I took no -pains to deaden the sound of my footsteps. In fact, I was anxious -that she should turn round and see me. I realized that I had no excuse -for following her and that this way of spying on her was unworthy -of me. But she seemed not to hear me and acted exactly as though -I were not there. She quietly left the quay and then suddenly -walked quickly up the road. The church-clock had struck a quarter -to twelve and I thought that this must have made her hurry, for she -began almost to run and continued hastening until she came to the church." - -Q. "Was the gate open?" - -R. "Yes, monsieur, and this surprised me, but did not seem -to surprise Mlle. Daae." - -Q. "Was there no one in the churchyard?" - -R. "I did not see any one; and, if there had been, I must have seen him. -The moon was shining on the snow and made the night quite light." - -Q. "Was it possible for any one to hide behind the tombstones?" - -R. "No, monsieur. They were quite small, poor tombstones, partly hidden -under the snow, with their crosses just above the level of the ground. -The only shadows were those of the crosses and ourselves. -The church stood out quite brightly. I never saw so clear a night. -It was very fine and very cold and one could see everything." - -Q. "Are you at all superstitious?" - -R. "No, monsieur, I am a practising Catholic," - -Q. "In what condition of mind were you?" - -R. "Very healthy and peaceful, I assure you. Mlle. Daae's curious -action in going out at that hour had worried me at first; but, as soon -as I saw her go to the churchyard, I thought that she meant to fulfil -some pious duty on her father's grave and I considered this so natural -that I recovered all my calmness. I was only surprised that she -had not heard me walking behind her, for my footsteps were quite -audible on the hard snow. But she must have been taken up with her -intentions and I resolved not to disturb her. She knelt down by -her father's grave, made the sign of the cross and began to pray. -At that moment, it struck midnight. At the last stroke, I saw -Mlle. Daae life{sic} her eyes to the sky and stretch out her arms -as though in ecstasy. I was wondering what the reason could be, -when I myself raised my head and everything within me seemed drawn -toward the invisible, WHICH WAS PLAYING THE MOST PERFECT MUSIC! -Christine and I knew that music; we had heard it as children. -But it had never been executed with such divine art, even by M. Daae. -I remembered all that Christine had told me of the Angel of Music. -The air was The Resurrection of Lazarus, which old M. Daae -used to play to us in his hours of melancholy and of faith. -If Christine's Angel had existed, he could not have played better, -that night, on the late musician's violin. When the music stopped, -I seemed to hear a noise from the skulls in the heap of bones; -it was as though they were chuckling and I could not help shuddering." - -Q. "Did it not occur to you that the musician might be hiding -behind that very heap of bones?" - -R. "It was the one thought that did occur to me, monsieur, so much -so that I omitted to follow Mlle. Daae, when she stood up and walked -slowly to the gate. She was so much absorbed just then that I -am not surprised that she did not see me." - -Q. "Then what happened that you were found in the morning lying -half-dead on the steps of the high altar?" - -R. "First a skull rolled to my feet...then another...then -another...It was as if I were the mark of that ghastly game -of bowls. And I had an idea that false step must have destroyed -the balance of the structure behind which our musician was concealed. -This surmise seemed to be confirmed when I saw a shadow suddenly -glide along the sacristy wall. I ran up. The shadow had already -pushed open the door and entered the church. But I was quicker than -the shadow and caught hold of a corner of its cloak. At that moment, -we were just in front of the high altar; and the moonbeams fell -straight upon us through the stained-glass windows of the apse. -As I did not let go of the cloak, the shadow turned round; and I -saw a terrible death's head, which darted a look at me from a pair -of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan; -and, in the presence of this unearthly apparition, my heart gave way, -my courage failed me...and I remember nothing more until I -recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun." - - - -Chapter V A Visit to Box Five - - -We left M. Firmin Richard and M. Armand Moncharmin at the moment -when they were deciding "to look into that little matter of Box Five." - -Leaving behind them the broad staircase which leads from the lobby -outside the managers' offices to the stage and its dependencies, -they crossed the stage, went out by the subscribers' door and -entered the house through the first little passage on the left. -Then they made their way through the front rows of stalls and -looked at Box Five on the grand tier, They could not see it well, -because it was half in darkness and because great covers were flung -over the red velvet of the ledges of all the boxes. - -They were almost alone in the huge, gloomy house; and a great silence -surrounded them. It was the time when most of the stage-hands go -out for a drink. The staff had left the boards for the moment, -leaving a scene half set. A few rays of light, a wan, sinister light, -that seemed to have been stolen from an expiring luminary, -fell through some opening or other upon an old tower that raised -its pasteboard battlements on the stage; everything, in this -deceptive light, adopted a fantastic shape. In the orchestra stalls, -the drugget covering them looked like an angry sea, whose glaucous -waves had been suddenly rendered stationary by a secret order -from the storm phantom, who, as everybody knows, is called Adamastor. -MM. Moncharmin and Richard were the shipwrecked mariners -amid this motionless turmoil of a calico sea. They made -for the left boxes, plowing their way like sailors who leave their -ship and try to struggle to the shore. The eight great polished -columns stood up in the dusk like so many huge piles supporting -the threatening, crumbling, big-bellied cliffs whose layers were -represented by the circular, parallel, waving lines of the balconies -of the grand, first and second tiers of boxes. At the top, -right on top of the cliff, lost in M. Lenepveu's copper ceiling, -figures grinned and grimaced, laughed and jeered at MM. Richard and -Moncharmin's distress. And yet these figures were usually very serious. -Their names were Isis, Amphitrite, Hebe, Pandora, Psyche, Thetis, -Pomona, Daphne, Clytie, Galatea and Arethusa. Yes, Arethusa herself -and Pandora, whom we all know by her box, looked down upon the two -new managers of the Opera, who ended by clutching at some piece -of wreckage and from there stared silently at Box Five on the grand tier. - -I have said that they were distressed. At least, I presume so. -M. Moncharmin, in any case, admits that he was impressed. To quote -his own words, in his Memoirs: - -"This moonshine about the Opera ghost in which, since we first -took over the duties of MM. Poligny and Debienne, we had been -so nicely steeped"--Moncharmin's style is not always irreproachable-- -"had no doubt ended by blinding my imaginative and also my -visual faculties. It may be that the exceptional surroundings -in which we found ourselves, in the midst of an incredible silence, -impressed us to an unusual extent. It may be that we were the sport -of a kind of hallucination brought about by the semi-darkness of -the theater and the partial gloom that filled Box Five. At any rate, -I saw and Richard also saw a shape in the box. Richard said nothing, -nor I either. But we spontaneously seized each other's hand. -We stood like that for some minutes, without moving, with our -eyes fixed on the same point; but the figure had disappeared. -Then we went out and, in the lobby, communicated our impressions -to each other and talked about `the shape.' The misfortune was that -my shape was not in the least like Richard's. I had seen a thing -like a death's head resting on the ledge of the box, whereas Richard -saw the shape of an old woman who looked like Mme. Giry. We soon -discovered that we had really been the victims of an illusion, -whereupon, without further delay and laughing like madmen, we ran -to Box Five on the grand tier, went inside and found no shape of any kind." - -Box Five is just like all the other grand tier boxes. There is -nothing to distinguish it from any of the others. M. Moncharmin -and M. Richard, ostensibly highly amused and laughing at each other, -moved the furniture of the box, lifted the cloths and the chairs -and particularly examined the arm-chair in which "the man's voice" -used to sit. But they saw that it was a respectable arm-chair, -with no magic about it. Altogether, the box was the most ordinary box -in the world, with its red hangings, its chairs, its carpet and its ledge -covered in red velvet. After, feeling the carpet in the most serious -manner possible, and discovering nothing more here or anywhere else, -they went down to the corresponding box on the pit tier below. -In Box Five on the pit tier, which is just inside the first exit -from the stalls on the left, they found nothing worth mentioning either. - -"Those people are all making fools of us!" Firmin Richard ended -by exclaiming. "It will be FAUST on Saturday: let us both see -the performance from Box Five on the grand tier!" - - - -Chapter VII Faust and What Followed - - -On the Saturday morning, on reaching their office, the joint -managers found a letter from O. G. worded in these terms: - -MY DEAR MANAGERS: - -So it is to be war between us? - -If you still care for peace, here is my ultimatum. It consists -of the four following conditions: - -1. You must give me back my private box; and I wish it to be at -my free disposal from henceforward. - -2. The part of Margarita shall be sung this evening by Christine Daae. -Never mind about Carlotta; she will be ill. - -3. I absolutely insist upon the good and loyal services of Mme. Giry, -my box-keeper, whom you will reinstate in her functions forthwith. - -4. Let me know by a letter handed to Mme. Giry, who will see -that it reaches me, that you accept, as your predecessors did, -the conditions in my memorandum-book relating to my monthly allowance. -I will inform you later how you are to pay it to me. - -If you refuse, you will give FAUST to-night in a house with a curse -upon it. - -Take my advice and be warned in time. O. G. - -"Look here, I'm getting sick of him, sick of him!" shouted Richard, -bringing his fists down on his officetable. - -Just then, Mercier, the acting-manager, entered. - -"Lachcnel would like to see one of you gentlemen," he said. -"He says that his business is urgent and he seems quite upset." - -"Who's Lachcnel?" asked Richard. - -"He's your stud-groom." - -"What do you mean? My stud-groom?" - -"Yes, sir," explained Mercier, "there are several grooms at the Opera -and M. Lachcnel is at the head of them." - -"And what does this groom do?" - -"He has the chief management of the stable." - -"What stable?" - -"Why, yours, sir, the stable of the Opera." - -"Is there a stable at the Opera? Upon my word, I didn't know. -Where is it?" - -"In the cellars, on the Rotunda side. It's a very important department; -we have twelve horses." - -"Twelve horses! And what for, in Heaven's name?" - -"Why, we want trained horses for the processions in the Juive, -The Profeta and so on; horses `used to the boards.' It is the grooms' -business to teach them. M. Lachcnel is very clever at it. He used -to manage Franconi's stables." - -"Very well...but what does he want. - -"I don't know; I never saw him in such a state." - -"He can come in." - -M. Lachenel came in, carrying a riding-whip, with which he struck -his right boot in an irritable manner. - -"Good morning, M. Lachenel," said Richard, somewhat impressed. -"To what do we owe the honor of your visit?" - -"Mr. Manager, I have come to ask you to get rid of the whole stable." - -"What, you want to get rid of our horses?" - -"I'm not talking of the horses, but of the stablemen." - -"How many stablemen have you, M. Lachenel?" - -"Six stablemen! That's at least two too many." - -"These are `places,'" Mercier interposed, "created and forced -upon us by the under-secretary for fine arts. They are filled -by protegees of the government and, if I may venture to..." - -"I don't care a hang for the government!" roared Richard. -"We don't need more than four stablemen for twelve horses." - -"Eleven," said the head riding-master, correcting him. - -"Twelve," repeated Richard. - -"Eleven," repeated Lachenel. - -"Oh, the acting-manager told me that you had twelve horses!" - -"I did have twelve, but I have only eleven since Cesar was stolen." - -And M. Lachenel gave himself a great smack on the boot with his whip. - -"Has Cesar been stolen?" cried the acting-manager. "Cesar, the white -horse in the Profeta?" - -"There are not two Cesars," said the stud-groom dryly. "I was ten -years at Franconi's and I have seen plenty of horses in my time. -Well, there are not two Cesars. And he's been stolen." - -"How?" - -"I don't know. Nobody knows. That's why I have come to ask you -to sack the whole stable." - -"What do your stablemen say?" - -"All sorts of nonsense. Some of them accuse the supers. -Others pretend that it's the acting-manager's doorkeeper..." - -"My doorkeeper? I'll answer for him as I would for myself!" -protested Mercier. - -"But, after all, M. Lachenel," cried Richard, "you must have some idea." - -"Yes, I have," M. Lachenel declared. "I have an idea and I'll -tell you what it is. There's no doubt about it in my mind." -He walked up to the two managers and whispered. "It's the ghost -who did the trick!" - -Richard gave a jump. - -"What, you too! You too!" - -"How do you mean, I too? Isn't it natural, after what I saw?" - -"What did you see?" - -"I saw, as clearly as I now see you, a black shadow riding a white -horse that was as like Cesar as two peas!" - -"And did you run after them?" - -"I did and I shouted, but they were too fast for me and disappeared -in the darkness of the underground gallery." - -M. Richard rose. "That will do, M. Lachenel. You can go.... -We will lodge a complaint against THE GHOST." - -"And sack my stable?" - -"Oh, of course! Good morning." - -M. Lachenel bowed and withdrew. Richard foamed at the mouth. - -"Settle that idiot's account at once, please." - -"He is a friend of the government representative's!" Mercier ventured -to say. - -"And he takes his vermouth at Tortoni's with Lagrene, Scholl and Pertuiset, -the lion-hunter," added Moncharmin. "We shall have the whole press -against us! He'll tell the story of the ghost; and everybody -will be laughing at our expense! We may as well be dead as ridiculous!" - -"All right, say no more about it." - -At that moment the door opened. It must have been deserted -by its usual Cerberus, for Mme. Giry entered without ceremony, -holding a letter in her hand, and said hurriedly: - -"I beg your pardon, excuse me, gentlemen, but I had a letter this -morning from the Opera ghost. He told me to come to you, that you -had something to..." - -She did not complete the sentence. She saw Firmin Richard's face; -and it was a terrible sight. He seemed ready to burst. He said nothing, -he could not speak. But suddenly he acted. First, his left arm -seized upon the quaint person of Mme. Giry and made her describe -so unexpected a semicircle that she uttered a despairing cry. -Next, his right foot imprinted its sole on the black taffeta of a -skirt which certainly had never before undergone a similar outrage -in a similar place. The thing happened so quickly that Mme. Giry, -when in the passage, was still quite bewildered and seemed not -to understand. But, suddenly, she understood; and the Opera -rang with her indignant yells, her violent protests and threats. - -About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own -in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, rang for her maid, who brought -her letters to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, -written in red ink, in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran: - -If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune -at the moment when you open your mouth to sing...a misfortune -worse than death. - -The letter took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. -She pushed back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. -It was not the first letter of the kind which she had received, -but she never had one couched in such threatening terms. - -She thought herself, at that time, the victim of a thousand jealous -attempts and went about saying that she had a secret enemy who had -sworn to ruin her. She pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched -against her, a cabal which would come to a head one of those days; -but she added that she was not the woman to be intimidated. - -The truth is that, if there was a cabal, it was led by Carlotta -herself against poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. -Carlotta had never forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had -achieved when taking her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta -heard of the astounding reception bestowed upon her understudy, -she was at once cured of an incipient attack of bronchitis and a -bad fit of sulking against the management and lost the slightest -inclination to shirk her duties. From that time, she worked with all -her might to "smother" her rival, enlisting the services of influential -friends to persuade the managers not to give Christine an opportunity -for a fresh triumph. Certain newspapers which had begun to extol -the talent of Christine now interested themselves only in the fame -of Carlotta. Lastly, in the theater itself, the celebrated, -but heartless and soulless diva made the most scandalous remarks -about Christine and tried to cause her endless minor unpleasantnesses. - -When Carlotta had finished thinking over the threat contained -in the strange letter, she got up. - -"We shall see," she said, adding a few oaths in her native Spanish -with a very determined air. - -The first thing she saw, when looking out of her window, was a hearse. -She was very superstitious; and the hearse and the letter convinced -her that she was running the most serious dangers that evening. -She collected all her supporters, told them that she was threatened -at that evening's performance with a plot organized by Christine Daae -and declared that they must play a trick upon that chit by filling -the house with her, Carlotta's, admirers. She had no lack of them, -had she? She relied upon them to hold themselves prepared for any -eventuality and to silence the adversaries, if, as she feared, -they created a disturbance. - -M. Richard's private secretary called to ask after the diva's health -and returned with the assurance that she was perfectly well and that, -"were she dying," she would sing the part of Margarita that evening. -The secretary urged her, in his chief's name, to commit no imprudence, -to stay at home all day and to be careful of drafts; and Carlotta could -not help, after he had gone, comparing this unusual and unexpected -advice with the threats contained in the letter. - -It was five o'clock when the post brought a second anonymous letter -in the same hand as the first. It was short and said simply: - -You have a bad cold. If you are wise, you will see that it -is madness to try to sing to-night. - -Carlotta sneered, shrugged her handsome shoulders and sang two -or three notes to reassure herself. - -Her friends were faithful to their promise. They were all at the Opera -that night, but looked round in vain for the fierce conspirators -whom they were instructed to suppress. The only unusual thing -was the presence of M. Richard and M. Moncharmin in Box Five. -Carlotta's friends thought that, perhaps, the managers had wind, -on their side, of the proposed disturbance and that they had -determined to be in the house, so as to stop it then and there; -but this was unjustifiable supposition, as the reader knows. -M. Richard and M. Moncharmin were thinking of nothing but their ghost. - -"Vain! In vain do I call, through my vigil weary, On creation -and its Lord! Never reply will break the silence dreary! No sign! -No single word!" - -The famous baritone, Carolus Fonta, had hardly finished Doctor Faust's -first appeal to the powers of darkness, when M. Firmin Richard, -who was sitting in the ghost's own chair, the front chair on the right, -leaned over to his partner and asked him chaffingly: - -"Well, has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet?" - -"Wait, don't be in such a hurry," replied M. Armand Moncharmin, -in the same gay tone. "The performance has only begun and you know -that the ghost does not usually come until the middle of the first act." - -The first act passed without incident, which did not surprise -Carlotta's friends, because Margarita does not sing in this act. -As for the managers, they looked at each other, when the curtain fell. - -"That's one!" said Moncharmin. - -"Yes, the ghost is late," said Firmin Richard. - -"It's not a bad house," said Moncharmin, "for `a house with a curse -on it.'" - -M. Richard smiled and pointed to a fat, rather vulgar woman, -dressed in black, sitting in a stall in the middle of the auditorium -with a man in a broadcloth frock-coat on either side of her. - -"Who on earth are `those?'" asked Moncharmin. - -"`Those,' my dear fellow, are my concierge, her husband and her brother." - -"Did you give them their tickets?' - -"I did. .. My concierge had never been to the Opera--this is, -the first time--and, as she is now going to come every night, -I wanted her to have a good seat, before spending her time showing -other people to theirs." - -Moncharmin asked what he meant and Richard answered that he had -persuaded his concierge, in whom he had the greatest confidence, -to come and take Mme. Giry's place. Yes, he would like to see if, -with that woman instead of the old lunatic, Box Five would continue -to astonish the natives? - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "you know that Mother Giry is going -to lodge a complaint against you." - -"With whom? The ghost?" - -The ghost! Moncharmin had almost forgotten him. However, that mysterious -person did nothing to bring himself to the memory of the managers; -and they were just saying so to each other for the second time, -when the door of the box suddenly opened to admit the startled -stage-manager. - -"What's the matter?" they both asked, amazed at seeing him there -at such a time. - -"It seems there's a plot got up by Christine Daae's friends -against Carlotta. Carlotta's furious." - -"What on earth...?" said Richard, knitting his brows. - -But the curtain rose on the kermess scene and Richard made a sign -to the stage-manager to go away. When the two were alone again, -Moncharmin leaned over to Richard: - -"Then Daae has friends?" he asked. - -"Yes, she has." - -"Whom?" - -Richard glanced across at a box on the grand tier containing -no one but two men. - -"The Comte de Chagny?" - -"Yes, he spoke to me in her favor with such warmth that, if I -had not known him to be Sorelli's friend..." - -"Really? Really?" said Moncharmin. "And who is that pale young -man beside him?" - -"That's his brother, the viscount." - -"He ought to be in his bed. He looks ill." - -The stage rang with gay song: - - "Red or white liquor, - Coarse or fine! - What can it matter, - So we have wine?" - -Students, citizens, soldiers, girls and matrons whirled light-heartedly -before the inn with the figure of Bacchus for a sign. Siebel made -her entrance. Christine Daae looked charming in her boy's clothes; -and Carlotta's partisans expected to hear her greeted with an ovation -which would have enlightened them as to the intentions of her friends. -But nothing happened. - -On the other hand, when Margarita crossed the stage and sang -the only two lines allotted her in this second act: - - "No, my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty, - And do not need an arm to help me on my way," - -Carlotta was received with enthusiastic applause. It was so -unexpected and so uncalled for that those who knew nothing about -the rumors looked at one another and asked what was happening. -And this act also was finished without incident. - -Then everybody said: "Of course, it will be during the next act." - -Some, who seemed to be better informed than the rest, declared that -the "row" would begin with the ballad of the KING OF THULE and rushed -to the subscribers' entrance to warn Carlotta. The managers left -the box during the entr'acte to find out more about the cabal of which -the stage-manager had spoken; but they soon returned to their seats, -shrugging their shoulders and treating the whole affair as silly. - -The first thing they saw, on entering the box, was a box of English -sweets on the little shelf of the ledge. Who had put it there? -They asked the box-keepers, but none of them knew. Then they went back -to the shelf and, next to the box of sweets, found an opera glass. -They looked at each other. They had no inclination to laugh. -All that Mme. Giry had told them returned to their memory...and -then...and then...they seemed to feel a curious sort of draft -around them....They sat down in silence. - -The scene represented Margarita's garden: - - "Gentle flow'rs in the dew, - Be message from me..." - -As she sang these first two lines, with her bunch of roses and lilacs -in her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de Chagny -in his box; and, from that moment, her voice seemed less sure, -less crystal-clear than usual. Something seemed to deaden and dull -her singing. ... - -"What a queer girl she is!" said one of Carlotta's friends -in the stalls, almost aloud. "The other day she was divine; -and to-night she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training." - - "Gentle flow'rs, lie ye there - And tell her from me..." - -The viscount put his head under his hands and wept. The count, behind him, -viciously gnawed his mustache, shrugged his shoulders and frowned. -For him, usually so cold and correct, to betray his inner feelings -like that, by outward signs, the count must be very angry. He was. -He had seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey -in an alarming state of health. The explanation that followed was -unsatisfactory and the count asked Christine Daae for an appointment. -She had the audacity to reply that she could not see either him -or his brother. ... - - "Would she but deign to hear me - And with one smile to cheer me..." - -"The little baggage!" growled the count. - -And he wondered what she wanted. What she was hoping for. -...She was a virtuous girl, she was said to have no friend, -no protector of any sort....That angel from the North must be -very artful! - -Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, -thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris, -where Christine, fleeing from Perros like a thief in the night, -had arrived before him: - -MY DEAR LITTLE PLAYFELLOW: - -You must have the courage not to see me again, not to speak of -me again. If you love me just a little, do this for me, for me -who will never forget you, my dear Raoul. My life depends upon it. -Your life depends upon it. YOUR LITTLE CHRISTINE. - -Thunders of applause. Carlotta made her entrance. - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is..." - -When Margarita had finished singing the ballad of the KING OF THULE, -she was loudly cheered and again when she came to the end -of the jewel song: - - "Ah, the joy of past compare - These jewels bright to wear!..." - -Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, -certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung -herself into her part without restraint of modesty....She was no -longer Margarita, she was Carmen. She was applauded all the more; -and her debut with Faust seemed about to bring her a new success, -when suddenly...a terrible thing happened. - -Faust had knelt on one knee: - - "Let me gaze on the form below me, - While from yonder ether blue - Look how the star of eve, bright and tender, - lingers o'er me, - To love thy beauty too!" - -And Margarita replied: - - "Oh, how strange! - Like a spell does the evening bind me! - And a deep languid charm - I feel without alarm - With its melody enwind me - And all my heart subdue." - -At that moment, at that identical moment, the terrible thing happened. -...Carlotta croaked like a toad: - -"Co-ack!" - -There was consternation on Carlotta's face and consternation on -the faces of all the audience. The two managers in their box could -not suppress an exclamation of horror. Every one felt that the thing -was not natural, that there was witchcraft behind it. That toad -smelt of brimstone. Poor, wretched, despairing, crushed Carlotta! - -The uproar in the house was indescribable. If the thing had -happened to any one but Carlotta, she would have been hooted. -But everybody knew how perfect an instrument her voice was; -and there was no display of anger, but only of horror and dismay, -the sort of dismay which men would have felt if they had witnessed -the catastrophe that broke the arms of the Venus de Milo. -... And even then they would have seen...and understood... - -But here that toad was incomprehensible! So much so that, -after some seconds spent in asking herself if she had really -heard that note, that sound, that infernal noise issue from -her throat, she tried to persuade herself that it was not so, -that she was the victim of an illusion, an illusion of the ear, -and not of an act of treachery on the part of her voice. ... - -Meanwhile, in Box Five, Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. -This extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread -which was the more mysterious inasmuch as for some little while, -they had, fallen within the direct influence of the ghost. They had -felt his breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end. Richard wiped the -perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost was there, around them, -behind them, beside them; they felt his presence without seeing him, -they heard his breath, close, close, close to them!...They were -sure that there were three people in the box....They trembled -....They thought of running away....They dared not.... -They dared not make a movement or exchange a word that would -have told the ghost that they knew that he was there!...What -was going to happen? - -This happened. - -"Co-ack!" Their joint exclamation of horror was heard all over the house. -THEY FELT THAT THEY WERE SMARTING UNDER THE GHOST'S ATTACKS. -Leaning over the ledge of their box, they stared at Carlotta -as though they did not recognize her. That infernal girl must -have given the signal for some catastrophe. Ah, they were waiting -for the catastrophe! The ghost had told them it would come! -The house had a curse upon it! The two managers gasped and panted -under the weight of the catastrophe. Richard's stifled voice was -heard calling to Carlotta: - -"Well, go on!" - -No, Carlotta did not go on....Bravely, heroically, she started -afresh on the fatal line at the end of which the toad had appeared. - -An awful silence succeeded the uproar. Carlotta's voice alone once -more filled the resounding house: - -"I feel without alarm..." - -The audience also felt, but not without alarm. .. - - "I feel without alarm... - I feel without alarm--co-ack! - With its melody enwind me--co-ack! - And all my heart sub--co-ack!" - -The toad also had started afresh! - -The house broke into a wild tumult. The two managers collapsed -in their chairs and dared not even turn round; they had not -the strength; the ghost was chuckling behind their backs! -And, at last, they distinctly heard his voice in their right ears, -the impossible voice, the mouthless voice, saying: - -"SHE IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!" - -With one accord, they raised their eyes to the ceiling and uttered -a terrible cry. The chandelier, the immense mass of the chandelier was -slipping down, coming toward them, at the call of that fiendish voice. -Released from its hook, it plunged from the ceiling and came smashing -into the middle of the stalls, amid a thousand shouts of terror. -A wild rush for the doors followed. - -The papers of the day state that there were numbers wounded -and one killed. The chandelier had crashed down upon the head -of the wretched woman who had come to the Opera for the first time -in her life, the one whom M. Richard had appointed to succeed -Mme. Giry, the ghost's box-keeper, in her - -I functions! She died on the spot and, the next morning, a newspaper -appeared with this heading: - -TWO HUNDRED KILOS ON THE HEAD OF A CONCIERGE - -That was her sole epitaph! - - - -Chapter VIII The Mysterious Brougham - - -That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill. -As for Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. -A fortnight elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera -nor outside. - -Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima -donna's absence. He wrote to her at Mme. Valerius' flat and received -no reply. His grief increased and he ended by being seriously alarmed -at never seeing her name on the program. FAUST was played without her. - -One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason -of Christine's disappearance. He found them both looking -extremely worried. Their own friends did not recognize them: -they had lost all their gaiety and spirits. They were seen crossing -the stage with hanging heads, care-worn brows, pale cheeks, as though -pursued by some abominable thought or a prey to some persistent sport of fate. - -The fall of the chandelier had involved them in no little responsibility; -but it was difficult to make them speak about it. The inquest had -ended in a verdict of accidental death, caused by the wear and tear -of the chains by which the chandelier was hung from the ceiling; -but it was the duty of both the old and the new managers to have -discovered this wear and tear and to have remedied it in time. -And I feel bound to say that MM. Richard and Moncharmin at this -time appeared so changed, so absent-minded, so mysterious, -so incomprehensible that many of the subscribers thought that some -event even more horrible than the fall of the chandelier must -have affected their state of mind. - -In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, -except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions. -And their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask -about Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him -that she was taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, -and they replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, -as Mlle. Daae had requested leave of absence for reasons of health. - -"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?" - -"We don't know." - -"Didn't you send the doctor of the Opera to see her?" - -"No, she did not ask for him; and, as we trust her, we took her word." - -Raoul left the building a prey to the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved, -come what might, to go and inquire of Mamma Valerius. He remembered -the strong phrases in Christine's letter, forbidding him to make -any attempt to see her. But what he had seen at Perros, what he had -heard behind the dressing-room door, his conversation with Christine -at the edge of the moor made him suspect some machination which, -devilish though it might be, was none the less human. The girl's -highly strung imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, -the primitive education which had surrounded her childhood with a -circle of legends, the constant brooding over her dead father and, -above all, the state of sublime ecstasy into which music threw her -from the moment that this art was made manifest to her in certain -exceptional conditions, as in the churchyard at Perros; all this -seemed to him to constitute a moral ground only too favorable for -the malevolent designs of some mysterious and unscrupulous person. -Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? This was the very reasonable -question which Raoul put to himself as he hurried off to Mamma Valerius. - -He trembled as he rang at a little flat in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. -The door was opened by the maid whom he had seen coming out of Christine's -dressing-room one evening. He asked if he could speak to Mme. Valerius. -He was told that she was ill in bed and was not receiving visitors. - -"Take in my card, please," he said. - -The maid soon returned and showed him into a small and scantily -furnished drawing-room, in which portraits of Professor Valerius -and old Daae hung on opposite walls. - -"Madame begs Monsieur le Vicomte to excuse her," said the servant. -"She can only see him in her bedroom, because she can no longer stand -on her poor legs." - -Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he -at once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress -in the semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now -quite white, but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, -had their expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like. - -"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her visitor. -"Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here!...We can talk of HER." - -This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears. -He at once asked: - -"Madame...where is Christine?" - -And the old lady replied calmly: - -"She is with her good genius!" - -"What good genius?" exclaimed poor Raoul. - -"Why, the Angel of Music!" - -The viscount dropped into a chair. Really? Christine was with -the Angel of Music? And there lay Mamma Valerius in bed, smiling to -him and putting her finger to her lips, to warn him to be silent! -And she added: - -"You must not tell anybody!" - -"You can rely on me," said Raoul. - -He hardly knew what he was saying, for his ideas about Christine, -already greatly confused, were becoming more and more entangled; -and it seemed as if everything was beginning to turn around him, -around the room, around that extraordinary good lady with the white hair -and forget-me-not eyes. - -"I know! I know I can!" she said, with a happy laugh. "But why don't -you come near me, as you used to do when you were a little boy? -Give me your hands, as when you brought me the story of little Lotte, -which Daddy Daae had told you. I am very fond of you, M. Raoul, -you know. And so is Christine too!" - -"She is fond of me!" sighed the young man. He found a difficulty -in collecting his thoughts and bringing them to bear on Mamma Valerius' -"good genius," on the Angel of Music of whom Christine had spoken -to him so strangely, on the death's head which he had seen in a sort -of nightmare on the high altar at Perros and also on the Opera ghost, -whose fame had come to his ears one evening when he was standing -behind the scenes, within hearing of a group of scene-shifters -who were repeating the ghastly description which the hanged man, -Joseph Buquet, had given of the ghost before his mysterious death. - -He asked in a low voice: "What makes you think that Christine -is fond of me, madame?" - -"She used to speak of you every day." - -"Really?...And what did she tell you?" - -"She told me that you had made her a proposal!" - -And the good old lady began laughing wholeheartedly. Raoul sprang -from his chair, flushing to the temples, suffering agonies. - -"What's this? Where are you going? Sit down again at once, -will you?...Do you think I will let you go like that?...If -you're angry with me for laughing, I beg your pardon. .. After all, -what has happened isn't your fault. .. Didn't you know?...Did -you think that Christine was free?..." - -"Is Christine engaged to be married?" the wretched Raoul asked, -in a choking voice. - -"Why no! Why no!...You know as well as I do that Christine -couldn't marry, even if she wanted to! - -"But I don't know anything about it!...And why can't Christine marry?" - -"Because of the Angel of Music, of course!..." - -"I don't follow..." - -"Yes, he forbids her to!..." - -"He forbids her!...The Angel of Music forbids her to marry!" - -"Oh, he forbids her...without forbidding her. It's like this: -he tells her that, if she got married, she would never hear -him again. That's all!...And that he would go away for ever! -.. So, you understand, she can't let the Angel of Music go. -It's quite natural." - -"Yes, yes," echoed Raoul submissively, "it's quite natural." - -"Besides, I thought Christine had told you all that, when she met -you at Perros, where she went with her good genius." - -"Oh, she went to Perros with her good genius, did she?" - -"That is to say, he arranged to meet her down there, -in Perros churchyard, at Daae's grave. He promised -to play her The Resurrection of Lazarus on her father's violin!" - -Raoul de Chagny rose and, with a very authoritative air, -pronounced these peremptory words: - -"Madame, you will have the goodness to tell me where that genius lives." - -The old lady did not seem surprised at this indiscreet command. -She raised her eyes and said: - -"In Heaven!" - -Such simplicity baffled him. He did not know what to say in -the presence of this candid and perfect faith in a genius who came -down nightly from Heaven to haunt the dressing-rooms at the Opera. - -He now realized the possible state of mind of a girl brought up -between a superstitious fiddler and a visionary old lady and he -shuddered when he thought of the consequences of it all. - -"Is Christine still a good girl?" he asked suddenly, in spite -of himself. - -"I swear it, as I hope to be saved!" exclaimed the -old woman, who, this time, seemed to be incensed. -"And, if you doubt it, sir, I don't know what you are here for!" - -Raoul tore at his gloves. - -"How long has she known this `genius?'" - -"About three months....Yes, it's quite three months since he -began to give her lessons." - -The viscount threw up his arms with a gesture of despair. - -"The genius gives her lessons!...And where, pray?" - -"Now that she has gone away with him, I can't say; but, up to a fortnight ago, -it was in Christine's dressing-room. It would be impossible in this -little flat. The whole house would hear them. Whereas, at the Opera, -at eight o'clock in the morning, there is no one about, do you see!" - -"Yes, I see! I see!" cried the viscount. - -And he hurriedly took leave of Mme. Valerius, who asked herself -if the young nobleman was not a little off his head. - -He walked home to his brother's house in a pitiful state. -He could have struck himself, banged his head against the walls! -To think that he had believed in her innocence, in her purity! -The Angel of Music! He knew him now! He saw him! It was beyond -a doubt some unspeakable tenor, a good-looking jackanapes, who mouthed -and simpered as he sang! He thought himself as absurd and as wretched -as could be. Oh, what a miserable, little, insignificant, silly young -man was M. le Vicomte de Chagny! thought Raoul, furiously. And she, -what a bold and damnable sly creature! - -His brother was waiting for him and Raoul fell into his arms, -like a child. The count consoled him, without asking for explanations; -and Raoul would certainly have long hesitated before telling him -the story of the Angel of Music. His brother suggested taking him -out to dinner. Overcome as he was with despair, Raoul would probably -have refused any invitation that evening, if the count had not, -as an inducement, told him that the lady of his thoughts had been seen, -the night before, in company of the other sex in the Bois. -At first, the viscount refused to believe; but he received such exact -details that he ceased protesting. She had been seen, it appeared, -driving in a brougham, with the window down. She seemed to be slowly -taking in the icy night air. There was a glorious moon shining. -She was recognized beyond a doubt. As for her companion, only his -shadowy outline was distinguished leaning back in the dark. -The carriage was going at a walking pace in a lonely drive behind -the grand stand at Longchamp. - -Raoul dressed in frantic haste, prepared to forget his distress -by flinging himself, as people say, into "the vortex of pleasure." -Alas, he was a very sorry guest and, leaving his brother early, -found himself, by ten o'clock in the evening, in a cab, -behind the Longchamp race-course. - -It was bitterly cold. The road seemed deserted and very bright -under the moonlight. He told the driver to wait for him patiently at -the corner of a near turning and, hiding himself as well as he could, -stood stamping his feet to keep warm. He had been indulging -in this healthy exercise for half an hour or so, when a carriage -turned the corner of the road and came quietly in his direction, -at a walking pace. - -As it approached, he saw that a woman was leaning her head from -the window. And, suddenly, the moon shed a pale gleam over her features. - -"Christine!" - -The sacred name of his love had sprung from his heart and his lips. -He could not keep it back. .. He would have given anything -to withdraw it, for that name, proclaimed in the stillness of -the night, had acted as though it were the preconcerted signal -for a furious rush on the part of the whole turn-out, which dashed -past him before he could put into execution his plan of leaping -at the horses' heads. The carriage window had been closed and -the girl's face had disappeared. And the brougham, behind which -he was now running, was no more than a black spot on the white road. - -He called out again: "Christine!" - -No reply. And he stopped in the midst of the silence. - -With a lack-luster eye, he stared down that cold, desolate road -and into the pale, dead night. Nothing was colder than his heart, -nothing half so dead: he had loved an angel and now he despised -a woman! - -Raoul, how that little fairy of the North has trifled with you! -Was it really, was it really necessary to have so fresh and young -a face, a forehead so shy and always ready to cover itself with -the pink blush of modesty in order to pass in the lonely night, -in a carriage and pair, accompanied by a mysterious lover? -Surely there should be some limit to hypocrisy and lying!... - -She had passed without answering his cry....And he was thinking -of dying; and he was twenty years old!... - -His valet found him in the morning sitting on his bed. He had not -undressed and the servant feared, at the sight of his face, that some -disaster had occurred. Raoul snatched his letters from the man's hands. -He had recognized Christine's paper and hand-writing. She said: - -DEAR: - -Go to the masked ball at the Opera on the night after to-morrow. -At twelve o'clock, be in the little room behind the chimney-place -of the big crush-room. Stand near the door that leads to the Rotunda. -Don't mention this appointment to any one on earth. Wear a white -domino and be carefully masked. As you love me, do not let yourself -be recognized. CHRISTINE. - - - -Chapter IX At the Masked Ball - - -The envelope was covered with mud and unstamped. It bore the words -"To be handed to M. le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny," with the address -in pencil. It must have been flung out in the hope that a passer-by -would pick up the note and deliver it, which was what happened. -The note had been picked up on the pavement of the Place de l'Opera. - -Raoul read it over again with fevered eyes. No more was needed -to revive his hope. The somber picture which he had for a moment -imagined of a Christine forgetting her duty to herself made way -for his original conception of an unfortunate, innocent child, -the victim of imprudence and exaggerated sensibility. To what extent, -at this time, was she really a victim? Whose prisoner was she? -Into what whirlpool had she been dragged? He asked himself these -questions with a cruel anguish; but even this pain seemed endurable -beside the frenzy into which he was thrown at the thought of a lying -and deceitful Christine. What had happened? What influence had -she undergone? What monster had carried her off and by what means? -... - -By what means indeed but that of music? He knew Christine's story. -After her father's death, she acquired a distaste of everything in life, -including her art. She went through the CONSERVATOIRE like a poor -soulless singing-machine. And, suddenly, she awoke as though through the -intervention of a god. The Angel of Music appeared upon the scene! -She sang Margarita in FAUST and triumphed!... - -The Angel of Music!...For three months the Angel of Music had been -giving Christine lessons....Ah, he was a punctual singing-master!... -And now he was taking her for drives in the Bois!... - -Raoul's fingers clutched at his flesh, above his jealous heart. -In his inexperience, he now asked himself with terror what game -the girl was playing? Up to what point could an opera-singer make -a fool of a good-natured young man, quite new to love? O misery!... - -Thus did Raoul's thoughts fly from one extreme to the other. -He no longer knew whether to pity Christine or to curse her; -and he pitied and cursed her turn and turn about. At all events, -he bought a white domino. - -The hour of the appointment came at last. With his face in a mask -trimmed with long, thick lace, looking like a pierrot in his white wrap, -the viscount thought himself very ridiculous. Men of the world -do not go to the Opera ball in fancy-dress! It was absurd. -One thought, however, consoled the viscount: he would certainly -never be recognized! - -This ball was an exceptional affair, given some time before Shrovetide, -in honor of the anniversary of the birth of a famous draftsman; -and it was expected to be much gayer, noisier, more Bohemian than -the ordinary masked ball. Numbers of artists had arranged to go, -accompanied by a whole cohort of models and pupils, who, by midnight, -began to create a tremendous din. Raoul climbed the grand staircase -at five minutes to twelve, did not linger to look at the motley -dresses displayed all the way up the marble steps, one of the richest -settings in the world, allowed no facetious mask to draw him into -a war of wits, replied to no jests and shook off the bold familiarity -of a number of couples who had already become a trifle too gay. -Crossing the big crush-room and escaping from a mad whirl of dancers -in which he was caught for a moment, he at last entered the room -mentioned in Christine's letter. He found it crammed; for this -small space was the point where all those who were going to supper -in the Rotunda crossed those who were returning from taking a glass -of champagne. The fun, here, waxed fast and furious. - -Raoul leaned against a door-post and waited. He did not wait long. -A black domino passed and gave a quick squeeze to the tips of -his fingers. He understood that it was she and followed her: - -"Is that you, Christine?" he asked, between his teeth. - -The black domino turned round promptly and raised her finger -to her lips, no doubt to warn him not to mention her name again. -Raoul continued to follow her in silence. - -He was afraid of losing her, after meeting her again in such -strange circumstances. His grudge against her was gone. He no -longer doubted that she had "nothing to reproach herself with," -however peculiar and inexplicable her conduct might seem. He was -ready to make any display of clemency, forgiveness or cowardice. -He was in love. And, no doubt, he would soon receive a very natural -explanation of her curious absence. - -The black domino turned back from time to time to see if the white -domino was still following. - -As Raoul once more passed through the great crush-room, this time -in the wake of his guide, he could not help noticing a group crowding -round a person whose disguise, eccentric air and gruesome appearance -were causing a sensation. It was a man dressed all in scarlet, -with a huge hat and feathers on the top of a wonderful death's head. -From his shoulders hung an immense red-velvet cloak, which trailed -along the floor like a king's train; and on this cloak was embroidered, -in gold letters, which every one read and repeated aloud, -"Don't touch me! I am Red Death stalking abroad!" - -Then one, greatly daring, did try to touch him...but a skeleton -hand shot out of a crimson sleeve and violently seized the rash -one's wrist; and he, feeling the clutch of the knucklebones, -the furious grasp of Death, uttered a cry of pain and terror. -When Red Death released him at last, he ran away like a very madman, -pursued by the jeers of the bystanders. - -It was at this moment that Raoul passed in front of the funereal -masquerader, who had just happened to turn in his direction. -And he nearly exclaimed: - -"The death's head of Perros-Guirec!" - -He had recognized him!...He wanted to dart forward, forgetting Christine; -but the black domino, who also seemed a prey to some strange excitement, -caught him by the arm and dragged him from the crush-room, -far from the mad crowd through which Red Death was stalking. ... - -The black domino kept on turning back and, apparently, on two -occasions saw something that startled her, for she hurried -her pace and Raoul's as though they were being pursued. - -They went up two floors. Here, the stairs and corridors -were almost deserted. The black domino opened the door of a -private box and beckoned to the white domino to follow her. -Then Christine, whom he recognized by the sound of her voice, -closed the door behind them and warned him, in a whisper, -to remain at the back of the box and on no account to show himself. -Raoul took off his mask. Christine kept hers on. And, when Raoul -was about to ask her to remove it, he was surprised to see her put -her ear to the partition and listen eagerly for a sound outside. -Then she opened the door ajar, looked out into the corridor and, -in a low voice, said: - -"He must have gone up higher." Suddenly she exclaimed: "He is -coming down again!" - -She tried to close the door, but Raoul prevented her; for he had seen, -on the top step of the staircase that led to the floor above, -A RED FOOT, followed by another...and slowly, majestically, -the whole scarlet dress of Red Death met his eyes. And he once -more saw the death's head of Perros-Guirec. - -"It's he!" he exclaimed. "This time, he shall not escape me!..." - -But Christian{sic} had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul -was on the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside. - -"Whom do you mean by `he'?" she asked, in a changed voice. -"Who shall not escape you?" - -Raoul tried to overcome the girl's resistance by force, but she -repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her. -He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper. - -"Who?" he repeated angrily. "Why, he, the man who hides behind -that hideous mask of death!...The evil genius of the churchyard -at Perros!...Red Death!...In a word, madam, your friend... -your Angel of Music!...But I shall snatch off his mask, -as I shall snatch off my own; and, this time, we shall look each -other in the face, he and I, with no veil and no lies between us; -and I shall know whom you love and who loves you!" - -He burst into a mad laugh, while Christine gave a disconsolate moan -behind her velvet mask. With a tragic gesture, she flung out her -two arms, which fixed a barrier of white flesh against the door. - -"In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass!..." - -He stopped. What had she said?...In the name of their love?... -Never before had she confessed that she loved him. And yet she -had had opportunities enough....Pooh, her only object was to gain -a few seconds!...She wished to give the Red Death time to escape... -And, in accents of childish hatred, he said: - -"You lie, madam, for you do not love me and you have never loved me! -What a poor fellow I must be to let you mock and flout me as you -have done! Why did you give me every reason for hope, at Perros... -for honest hope, madam, for I am an honest man and I believed you -to be an honest woman, when your only intention was to deceive me! -Alas, you have deceived us all! You have taken a shameful advantage -of the candid affection of your benefactress herself, who continues -to believe in your sincerity while you go about the Opera ball -with Red Death!...I despise you!..." - -And he burst into tears. She allowed him to insult her. -She thought of but one thing, to keep him from leaving the box. - -"You will beg my pardon, one day, for all those ugly words, Raoul, -and when you do I shall forgive you!" - -He shook his head. "No, no, you have driven me mad! When I think -that I had only one object in life: to give my name to an opera wench!" - -"Raoul!...How can you?" - -"I shall die of shame!" - -"No, dear, live!" said Christine's grave and changed voice. -"And...good-by. Good-by, Raoul..." - -The boy stepped forward, staggering as he went. He risked one -more sarcasm: - -"Oh, you must let me come and applaud you from time to time!" - -"I shall never sing again, Raoul!... - -"Really?" he replied, still more satirically. "So he is taking -you off the stage: I congratulate you!...But we shall meet -in the Bois, one of these evenings!" - -"Not in the Bois nor anywhere, Raoul: you shall not see me again -..." - -"May one ask at least to what darkness you are returning?...For -what hell are you leaving, mysterious lady...or for what paradise?" - -"I came to tell you, dear, but I can't tell you now...you would -not believe me! You have lost faith in me, Raoul; it is finished!" - -She spoke in such a despairing voice that the lad began to feel -remorse for his cruelty. - -"But look here!" he cried. "Can't you tell me what all this means! -... You are free, there is no one to interfere with you. ... -You go about Paris....You put on a domino to come to the ball. -... Why do you not go home?...What have you been doing this -past fortnight?...What is this tale about the Angel of Music, -which you have been telling Mamma Valerius? Some one may have taken -you in, played upon your innocence. I was a witness of it myself, -at Perros...but you know what to believe now! You seem to me -quite sensible, Christine. You know what you are doing....And -meanwhile Mamma Valerius lies waiting for you at home and appealing -to your `good genius!'...Explain yourself, Christine, I beg of you! -Any one might have been deceived as I was. What is this farce?" - -Christine simply took off her mask and said: "Dear, it is a tragedy!" - -Raoul now saw her face and could not restrain an exclamation of -surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. -A mortal pallor covered those features, which he had known so -charming and so gentle, and sorrow had furrowed them with pitiless -lines and traced dark and unspeakably sad shadows under her eyes. - -"My dearest! My dearest!" he moaned, holding out his arms. -"You promised to forgive me..." - -"Perhaps!...Some day, perhaps!" she said, resuming her mask; -and she went away, forbidding him, with a gesture, to follow her. - -He tried to disobey her; but she turned round and repeated her gesture -of farewell with such authority that he dared not move a step. - -He watched her till she was out of sight. Then he also went down among -the crowd, hardly knowing what he was doing, with throbbing temples -and an aching heart; and, as he crossed the dancing-floor, he asked -if anybody had seen Red Death. Yes, every one had seen Red Death; -but Raoul could not find him; and, at two o'clock in the morning, -he turned down the passage, behind the scenes, that led to -Christine Daae's dressing-room. - -His footsteps took him to that room where he had first known suffering. -He tapped at the door. There was no answer. He entered, as he -had entered when he looked everywhere for "the man's voice." -The room was empty. A gas-jet was burning, turned down low. -He saw some writing-paper on a little desk. He thought of writing -to Christine, but he heard steps in the passage. He had only time -to hide in the inner room, which was separated from the dressing-room -by a curtain. - -Christine entered, took off her mask with a weary movement and flung -it on the table. She sighed and let her pretty head fall into her -two hands. What was she thinking of? Of Raoul? No, for Raoul -heard her murmur: "Poor Erik!" - -At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was -persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. -It would have been quite natural if she had said, "Poor Raoul," -after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, -she repeated: "Poor Erik!" - -What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she -pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy? - -Christine began to write, deliberately, calmly and so placidly -that Raoul, who was still trembling from the effects of the tragedy -that separated them, was painfully impressed. - -"What coolness!" he said to himself. - -She wrote on, filling two, three, four sheets. Suddenly, she raised -her head and hid the sheets in her bodice....She seemed -to be listening... Raoul also listened... Whence came -that strange sound, that distant rhythm?...A faint singing -seemed to issue from the walls...yes, it was as though -the walls themselves were singing!...The song became plainer -...the words were now distinguishable...he heard a voice, -a very beautiful, very soft, very captivating voice...but, -for all its softness, it remained a male voice...The voice came -nearer and nearer...it came through the wall...it approached -...and now the voice was IN THE ROOM, in front of Christine. -Christine rose and addressed the voice, as though speaking to some one: - -"Here I am, Erik," she said. "I am ready. But you are late." - -Raoul, peeping from behind the curtain, could not believe his eyes, -which showed him nothing. Christine's face lit up. A smile -of happiness appeared upon her bloodless lips, a smile like that -of sick people when they receive the first hope of recovery. - -The voice without a body went on singing; and certainly Raoul had -never in his life heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet, -more gloriously insidious, more delicate, more powerful, in short, -more irresistibly triumphant. He listened to it in a fever and he -now began to understand how Christine Daae was able to appear -one evening, before the stupefied audience, with accents of a beauty -hitherto unknown, of a superhuman exaltation, while doubtless still -under the influence of the mysterious and invisible master. - -The voice was singing the Wedding-night Song from Romeo and Juliet. -Raoul saw Christine stretch out her arms to the voice as she -had done, in Perros churchyard, to the invisible violin playing The -Resurrection of Lazarus. And nothing could describe the passion -with which the voice sang: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -The strains went through Raoul's heart. Struggling against the charm -that seemed to deprive him of all his will and all his energy and -of almost all his lucidity at the moment when he needed them most, -he succeeded in drawing back the curtain that hid him and he walked to -where Christine stood. She herself was moving to the back of the room, -the whole wall of which was occupied by a great mirror that reflected her -image, but not his, for he was just behind her and entirely covered by her. - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Christine walked toward her image in the glass and the image came -toward her. The two Christines--the real one and the reflection-- -ended by touching; and Raoul put out his arms to clasp the two -in one embrace. But, by a sort of dazzling miracle that sent -him staggering, Raoul was suddenly flung back, while an icy blast swept -over his face; he saw, not two, but four, eight, twenty Christines -spinning round him, laughing at him and fleeing so swiftly that he -could not touch one of them. At last, everything stood still again; -and he saw himself in the glass. But Christine had disappeared. - -He rushed up to the glass. He struck at the walls. Nobody! -And meanwhile the room still echoed with a distant passionate singing: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Which way, which way had Christine gone?...Which way would she -return?... - -Would she return? Alas, had she not declared to him that everything -was finished? And was the voice not repeating: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -To me? To whom? - -Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair -which Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into -his hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his -young cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, -tears that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which -is common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud: - -"Who is this Erik?" he said. - - - -Chapter X Forget the Name of the Man's Voice - - -The day after Christine had vanished before his eyes in a sort -of dazzlement that still made him doubt the evidence of his senses, -M. le Vicomte de Chagny called to inquire at Mamma Valerius'. -He came upon a charming picture. Christine herself was seated -by the bedside of the old lady, who was sitting up against -the pillows, knitting. The pink and white had returned to the young -girl's cheeks. The dark rings round her eyes had disappeared. -Raoul no longer recognized the tragic face of the day before. -If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not -still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird -drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, -he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all. - -She rose, without showing any emotion, and offered him her hand. -But Raoul's stupefaction was so great that he stood there dumfounded, -without a gesture, without a word. - -"Well, M. de Chagny," exclaimed Mamma Valerius, "don't you know -our Christine? Her good genius has sent her back to us!" - -"Mamma!" the girl broke in promptly, while a deep blush mantled to -her eyes. "I thought, mamma, that there was to be no more question -of that!...You know there is no such thing as the Angel of Music!" - -"But, child, he gave you lessons for three months!" - -"Mamma, I have promised to explain everything to you one of these days; -and I hope to do so but you have promised me, until that day, -to be silent and to ask me no more questions whatever!" - -"Provided that you promised never to leave me again! But have you -promised that, Christine?" - -"Mamma, all this can not interest M. de Chagny." - -"On the contrary, mademoiselle," said the young man, in a voice -which he tried to make firm and brave, but which still trembled, -"anything that concerns you interests me to an extent which perhaps -you will one day understand. I do not deny that my surprise equals -my pleasure at finding you with your adopted mother and that, -after what happened between us yesterday, after what you said and -what I was able to guess, I hardly expected to see you here so soon. -I should be the first to delight at your return, if you were not -so bent on preserving a secrecy that may be fatal to you...and I -have been your friend too long not to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, -at a disastrous adventure which will remain dangerous so long as we -have not unraveled its threads and of which you will certainly end -by being the victim, Christine." - -At these words, Mamma Valerius tossed about in her bed. - -"What does this mean?" she cried. "Is Christine in danger?" - -"Yes, madame," said Raoul courageously, notwithstanding the signs -which Christine made to him. - -"My God!" exclaimed the good, simple old woman, gasping for breath. -"You must tell me everything, Christine! Why did you try to reassure me? -And what danger is it, M. de Chagny?" - -"An impostor is abusing her good faith." - -"Is the Angel of Music an impostor?" - -"She told you herself that there is no Angel of Music." - -"But then what is it, in Heaven's name? You will be the death -of me!" - -"There is a terrible mystery around us, madame, around you, -around Christine, a mystery much more to be feared than any number -of ghosts or genii!" - -Mamma Valerius turned a terrified face to Christine, who had already -run to her adopted mother and was holding her in her arms. - -"Don't believe him, mummy, don't believe him," she repeated. - -"Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow. - -Christine was silent and Raoul resumed. - -"That is what you must promise, Christine. It is the only thing -that can reassure your mother and me. We will undertake not to ask -you a single question about the past, if you promise us to remain -under our protection in future." - -"That is an undertaking which I have not asked of you and a promise -which I refuse to make you!" said the young girl haughtily. -"I am mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right -to control them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. -As to what I have done during the last fortnight, there is only one man -in the world who has the right to demand an account of me: my husband! -Well, I have no husband and I never mean to marry!" - -She threw out her hands to emphasize her words and Raoul turned pale, -not only because of the words which he had heard, but because he -had caught sight of a plain gold ring on Christine's finger. - -"You have no husband and yet you wear a wedding-ring." - -He tried to seize her hand, but she swiftly drew it back. - -"That's a present!" she said, blushing once more and vainly striving -to hide her embarrassment. - -"Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been -given by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? -Why torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise -has been accepted!" - -"That's what I said!" exclaimed the old lady. - -"And what did she answer, madame?" - -"What I chose," said Christine, driven to exasperation. -"Don't you think, monsieur, that this cross-examination has lasted -long enough? As far as I am concerned..." - -Raoul was afraid to let her finish her speech. He interrupted her: - -"I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know -the good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, -you no doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to -tell you what I have seen--and I have seen more than you suspect, -Christine--or what I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, -I have sometimes been inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes." - -"Well, what did you see, sir, or think you saw?" - -"I saw your ecstasy AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE, Christine: the voice -that came from the wall or the next room to yours...yes, -YOUR ECSTASY! And that is what makes me alarmed on your behalf. -You are under a very dangerous spell. And yet it seems that you -are aware of the imposture, because you say to-day THAT THERE -IS NO ANGEL OF MUSIC! In that case, Christine, why did you follow -him that time? Why did you stand up, with radiant features, -as though you were really hearing angels?...Ah, it is a very -dangerous voice, Christine, for I myself, when I heard it, was so much -fascinated by it that you vanished before my eyes without my seeing -which way you passed! Christine, Christine, in the name of Heaven, -in the name of your father who is in Heaven now and who loved you -so dearly and who loved me too, Christine, tell us, tell your -benefactress and me, to whom does that voice belong? If you do, -we will save you in spite of yourself. Come, Christine, the name -of the man! The name of the man who had the audacity to put a ring -on your finger!" - -"M. de Chagny," the girl declared coldly, "you shall never know!" - -Thereupon, seeing the hostility with which her ward had addressed -the viscount, Mamma Valerius suddenly took Christine's part. - -"And, if she does love that man, Monsieur le Vicomte, even then it -is no business of yours!" - -"Alas, madame," Raoul humbly replied, unable to restrain his tears, -"alas, I believe that Christine really does love him!...But -it is not only that which drives me to despair; for what I am not -certain of, madame, is that the man whom Christine loves is worthy -of her love!" - -"It is for me to be the judge of that, monsieur!" said Christine, -looking Raoul angrily in the face. - -"When a man," continued Raoul, "adopts such romantic methods -to entice a young girl's affections. .." - -"The man must be either a villain, or the girl a fool: is that it?" - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul, why do you condemn a man whom you have never seen, -whom no one knows and about whom you yourself know nothing?" - -"Yes, Christine....Yes....I at least know the name -that you thought to keep from me for ever....The name -of your Angel of Music, mademoiselle, is Erik!" - -Christine at once betrayed herself. She turned as white as a sheet -and stammered: "Who told you?" - -"You yourself!" - -"How do you mean?" - -"By pitying him the other night, the night of the masked ball. -When you went to your dressing-room, did you not say, `Poor Erik?' -Well, Christine, there was a poor Raoul who overheard you." - -"This is the second time that you have listened behind the door, -M. de Chagny!" - -"I was not behind the door...I was in the dressing-room, -in the inner room, mademoiselle." - -"Oh, unhappy man!" moaned the girl, showing every sign -of unspeakable terror. "Unhappy man! Do you want to be killed?" - -"Perhaps." - -Raoul uttered this "perhaps" with so much love and despair in his -voice that Christine could not keep back a sob. She took his hands -and looked at him with all the pure affection of which she was capable: - -"Raoul," she said, "forget THE MAN'S VOICE and do not even remember -its name. .. You must never try to fathom the mystery of THE -MAN'S VOICE." - -"Is the mystery so very terrible?" - -"There is no more awful mystery on this earth. Swear to me that you -will make no attempt to find out," she insisted. "Swear to me -that you will never come to my dressing-room, unless I send for you." - -"Then you promise to send for me sometimes, Christine?" - -"I promise." - -"When?" - -"To-morrow." - -"Then I swear to do as you ask." - -He kissed her hands and went away, cursing Erik and resolving -to be patient. - - - -Chapter XI Above the Trap-Doors - - -The next day, he saw her at the Opera. She was still wearing -the plain gold ring. She was gentle and kind to him. She talked -to him of the plans which he was forming, of his future, of his career. - -He told her that the date of the Polar expedition had been put forward -and that he would leave France in three weeks, or a month at latest. -She suggested, almost gaily, that he must look upon the voyage -with delight, as a stage toward his coming fame. And when he -replied that fame without love was no attraction in his eyes, -she treated him as a child whose sorrows were only short-lived. - -"How can you speak so lightly of such serious things?" he asked. -"Perhaps we shall never see each other again! I may die during -that expedition." - -"Or I," she said simply. - -She no longer smiled or jested. She seemed to be thinking -of some new thing that had entered her mind for the first time. -Her eyes were all aglow with it. - -"What are you thinking of, Christine?" - -"I am thinking that we shall not see each other again..." - -"And does that make you so radiant?" - -"And that, in a month, we shall have to say good-by for ever!" - -"Unless, Christine, we pledge our faith and wait for each other -for ever." - -She put her hand on his mouth. - -"Hush, Raoul!...You know there is no question of that... -And we shall never be married: that is understood!" - -She seemed suddenly almost unable to contain an overpowering gaiety. -She clapped her hands with childish glee. Raoul stared at her -in amazement. - -"But...but," she continued, holding out her two hands to Raoul, -or rather giving them to him, as though she had suddenly resolved -to make him a present of them, "but if we can not be married, we can -... we can be engaged! Nobody will know but ourselves, Raoul. -There have been plenty of secret marriages: why not a secret -engagement?...We are engaged, dear, for a month! In a month, -you will go away, and I can be happy at the thought of that month -all my life long!" - -She was enchanted with her inspiration. Then she became serious again. - -"This," she said, "IS A HAPPINESS THAT WILL HARM NO ONE." - -Raoul jumped at the idea. He bowed to Christine and said: - -"Mademoiselle, I have the honor to ask for your hand." - -"Why, you have both of them already, my dear betrothed!... -Oh, Raoul, how happy we shall be!...We must play at being -engaged all day long." - -It was the prettiest game in the world and they enjoyed it like -the children that they were. Oh, the wonderful speeches they made -to each other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at -hearts as other children might play at ball; only, as it was really -their two hearts that they flung to and fro, they had to be very, -very handy to catch them, each time, without hurting them. - -One day, about a week after the game began, Raoul's heart was badly -hurt and he stopped playing and uttered these wild words: - -"I shan't go to the North Pole!" - -Christine, who, in her innocence, had not dreamed of such a possibility, -suddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached herself bitterly. -She did not say a word in reply to Raoul's remark and went straight home. - -This happened in the afternoon, in the singer's dressing-room, -where they met every day and where they amused themselves by dining -on three biscuits, two glasses of port and a bunch of violets. -In the evening, she did not sing; and he did not receive his -usual letter, though they had arranged to write to each other daily -during that month. The next morning, he ran off to Mamma Valerius, -who told him that Christine had gone away for two days. She had -left at five o'clock the day before. - -Raoul was distracted. He hated Mamma Valerius for giving him such -news as that with such stupefying calmness. He tried to sound her, -but the old lady obviously knew nothing. - -Christine returned on the following day. She returned in triumph. -She renewed her extraordinary success of the gala performance. -Since the adventure of the "toad," Carlotta had not been able -to appear on the stage. The terror of a fresh "co-ack" filled her -heart and deprived her of all her power of singing; and the theater -that had witnessed her incomprehensible disgrace had become odious -to her. She contrived to cancel her contract. Daae was offered -the vacant place for the time. She received thunders of applause in -the Juive. - -The viscount, who, of course, was present, was the only one -to suffer on hearing the thousand echoes of this fresh triumph; -for Christine still wore her plain gold ring. A distant voice -whispered in the young man's ear: - -"She is wearing the ring again to-night; and you did not give it -to her. She gave her soul again tonight and did not give it to you. -... If she will not tell you what she has been doing the past two -days...you must go and ask Erik!" - -He ran behind the scenes and placed himself in her way. She saw -him for her eyes were looking for him. She said: - -"Quick! Quick!...Come!" - -And she dragged him to her dressing-room. - -Raoul at once threw himself on his knees before her. He swore -to her that he would go and he entreated her never again to withhold -a single hour of the ideal happiness which she had promised him. -She let her tears flow. They kissed like a despairing brother -and sister who have been smitten with a common loss and who meet -to mourn a dead parent. - -Suddenly, she snatched herself from the young man's soft and timid -embrace, seemed to listen to something, and, with a quick gesture, -pointed to the door. When he was on the threshold, she said, -in so low a voice that the viscount guessed rather than heard her words: - -"To-morrow, my dear betrothed! And be happy, Raoul: I sang -for you to-night!" - -He returned the next day. But those two days of absence had broken -the charm of their delightful make-believe. They looked at each other, -in the dressing-room, with their sad eyes, without exchanging a word. -Raoul had to restrain himself not to cry out: - -"I am jealous! I am jealous! I am jealous!" - -But she heard him all the same. Then she said: - -"Come for a walk, dear. The air will do you good." - -Raoul thought that she would propose a stroll in the country, -far from that building which he detested as a prison whose jailer -he could feel walking within the walls...the jailer Erik.... -But she took him to the stage and made him sit on the wooden -curb of a well, in the doubtful peace and coolness of a first scene -set for the evening's performance. - -On another day, she wandered with him, hand in, hand, along the deserted -paths of a garden whose creepers had been cut out by a decorator's -skilful hands. It was as though the real sky, the real flowers, -the real earth were forbidden her for all time and she condemned -to breathe no other air than that of the theater. An occasional -fireman passed, watching over their melancholy idyll from afar. -And she would drag him up above the clouds, in the magnificent -disorder of the grid, where she loved to make him giddy by running -in front of him along the frail bridges, among the thousands of ropes -fastened to the pulleys, the windlasses, the rollers, in the midst -of a regular forest of yards and masts. If he hesitated, she said, -with an adorable pout of her lips: - -"You, a sailor!" - -And then they returned to terra firma, that is to say, to some -passage that led them to the little girls' dancing-school, where -brats between six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope -of becoming great dancers one day, "covered with diamonds.... -Meanwhile, Christine gave them sweets instead. - -She took him to the wardrobe and property-rooms, took him all over -her empire, which was artificial, but immense, covering seventeen -stories from the ground-floor to the roof and inhabited by an -army of subjects. She moved among them like a popular queen, -encouraging them in their labors, sitting down in the workshops, -giving words of advice to the workmen whose hands hesitated to cut -into the rich stuffs that were to clothe heroes. There were -inhabitants of that country who practised every trade. There -were cobblers, there were goldsmiths. All had learned to know -her and to love her, for she always interested herself in all -their troubles and all their little hobbies. - -She knew unsuspected corners that were secretly occupied by little -old couples. She knocked at their door and introduced Raoul to them -as a Prince Charming who had asked for her hand; and the two of them, -sitting on some worm-eaten "property," would listen to the legends -of the Opera, even as, in their childhood, they had listened to the old -Breton tales. Those old people remembered nothing outside the Opera. -They had lived there for years without number. Past managements -had forgotten them; palace revolutions had taken no notice of them; -the history of France had run its course unknown to them; and nobody -recollected their existence. - -The precious days sped in this way; and Raoul and Christine, -by affecting excessive interest in outside matters, strove awkwardly -to hide from each other the one thought of their hearts. One fact -was certain, that Christine, who until then had shown herself -the stronger of the two, became suddenly inexpressibly nervous. -When on their expeditions, she would start running without reason -or else suddenly stop; and her hand, turning ice-cold in a moment, -would hold the young man back. Sometimes her eyes seemed to -pursue imaginary shadows. She cried, "This way," and "This way," -and "This way," laughing a breathless laugh that often ended -in tears. Then Raoul tried to speak, to question her, in spite -of his promises. But, even before he had worded his question, -she answered feverishly: - -"Nothing...I swear it is nothing." - -Once, when they were passing before an open trapdoor on the stage, -Raoul stopped over the dark cavity. - -"You have shown me over the upper part of your empire, Christine, -but there are strange stories told of the lower part. Shall we -go down?" - -She caught him in her arms, as though she feared to see him disappear -down the black hole, and, in a trembling voice, whispered: - -"Never!...I will not have you go there!...Besides, it's not -mine...EVERYTHING THAT IS UNDERGROUND BELONGS TO HIM!" - -Raoul looked her in the eyes and said roughly: - -"So he lives down there, does he?" - -"I never said so....Who told you a thing like that? Come away! -I sometimes wonder if you are quite sane, Raoul....You always -take things in such an impossible way....Come along! Come!" - -And she literally dragged him away, for he was obstinate and wanted -to remain by the trap-door; that hole attracted him. - -Suddenly, the trap-door was closed and so quickly that they did -not even see the hand that worked it; and they remained quite dazed. - -"Perhaps HE was there," Raoul said, at last. - -She shrugged her shoulders, but did not seem easy. - -"No, no, it was the `trap-door-shutters.' They must do something, -you know....They open and shut the trap-doors without -any particular reason....It's like the `door-shutters:' -they must spend their time somehow." - -"But suppose it were HE, Christine?" - -"No, no! He has shut himself up, he is working." - -"Oh, really! He's working, is he?" - -"Yes, he can't open and shut the trap-doors and work at the same time." -She shivered. - -"What is he working at?" - -"Oh, something terrible!...But it's all the better for us. -...When he's working at that, he sees nothing; he does not eat, -drink, or breathe for days and nights at a time...he becomes a -living dead man and has no time to amuse himself with the trap-doors." -She shivered again. She was still holding him in her arms. -Then she sighed and said, in her turn: - -"Suppose it were HE!" - -"Are you afraid of him?" - -"No, no, of course not," she said. - -For all that, on the next day and the following days, Christine was -careful to avoid the trap-doors. Her agitation only increased as -the hours passed. At last, one afternoon, she arrived very late, -with her face so desperately pale and her eyes so desperately red, -that Raoul resolved to go to all lengths, including that which he -foreshadowed when he blurted out that he would not go on the North Pole -expedition unless she first told him the secret of the man's voice. - -"Hush! Hush, in Heaven's name I Suppose HE heard you, -you unfortunate Raoul!" - -And Christine's eyes stared wildly at everything around her. - -"I will remove you from his power, Christine, I swear it. -And you shall not think of him any more." - -"Is it possible?" - -She allowed herself this doubt, which was an encouragernent, -while dragging the young man up to the topmost floor of the theater, -far, very far from the trap-doors. - -"I shall hide you in some unknown corner of the world, where HE -can not come to look for you. You will be safe; and then I shall -go away...as you have sworn never to marry." - -Christine seized Raoul's hands and squeezed them with incredible rapture. -But, suddenly becoming alarmed again, she turned away her head. - -"Higher!" was all she said. "Higher still!" - -And she dragged him up toward the summit. - -He had a difficulty in following her. They were soon under -the very roof, in the maze of timber-work. They slipped -through the buttresses, the rafters, the joists; they ran -from beam to beam as they might have run from tree to tree in a forest. - -And, despite the care which she took to look behind her at every moment, -she failed to see a shadow which followed her like her own shadow, -which stopped when she stopped, which started again when she did -and which made no more noise than a well-conducted shadow should. -As for Raoul, he saw nothing either; for, when he had Christine in -front of him, nothing interested him that happened behind. - - - -Chapter XII Apollo's Lyre - - -On this way, they reached the roof. Christine tripped over it -as lightly as a swallow. Their eyes swept the empty space between -the three domes and the triangular pediment. She breathed freely -over Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below. -She called Raoul to come quite close to her and they walked side -by side along the zinc streets, in the leaden avenues; they looked -at their twin shapes in the huge tanks, full of stagnant water, where, -in the hot weather, the little boys of the ballet, a score or so, -learn to swim and dive. - -The shadow had followed behind them clinging to their steps; -and the two children little suspected its presence when they at -last sat down, trustingly, under the mighty protection of Apollo, -who, with a great bronze gesture, lifted his huge lyre to the heart -of a crimson sky. - -It was a gorgeous spring evening. Clouds, which had just received -their gossamer robe of gold and purple from the setting sun, -drifted slowly by; and Christine said to Raoul: - -"Soon we shall go farther and faster than the clouds, to the end of -the world, and then you will leave me, Raoul. But, if, when the moment -comes APOLLO' for you to take me away, I refuse to go with you-- -well you must carry me off by force!" - -"Are you afraid that you will change your mind, Christine?" - -"I don't know," she said, shaking her head in an odd fashion. -"He is a demon!" And she shivered and nestled in his arms with a moan. -"I am afraid now of going back to live with him...in the ground!" - -"What compels you to go back, Christine?" - -"If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen!... -But I can't do it, I can't do it!...I know one ought to be sorry -for people who live underground....But he is too horrible! -And yet the time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I -do not go, he will come and fetch me with his voice. And he will -drag me with him, underground, and go on his knees before me, -with his death's head. And he will tell me that he loves me! -And he will cry! Oh, those tears, Raoul, those tears in the two -black eye-sockets of the death's head! I can not see those tears -flow again!" - -She wrung her hands in anguish, while Raoul pressed her to his heart. - -"No, no, you shall never again hear him tell you that he loves you! -You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly -at once!" - -And he tried to drag her away, then and there. But she stopped him. - -"No, no," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Not now!...It would -be too cruel...let him hear me sing to-morrow evening...and then -we will go away. You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room -at midnight exactly. He will then be waiting for me in the dining-room -by the lake...we shall be free and you shall take me away.... -You must promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse; for I feel that, -if I go back this time, I shall perhaps never return." - -And she gave a sigh to which it seemed to her that another sigh, -behind her, replied. - -"Didn't you hear?" - -Her teeth chattered. - -"No," said Raoul, "I heard nothing." - -"It is too terrible," she confessed, "to be always trembling -like this!...And yet we run no danger here; we are at home, -in the sky, in the open air, in the light. The sun is flaming; -and night-birds can not bear to look at the sun. I have never seen -him by daylight...it must be awful!...Oh, the first time I -saw him!...I thought that he was going to die." - -"Why?" asked Raoul, really frightened at the aspect which this -strange confidence was taking. - -"BECAUSE I HAD SEEN HIM!" - -This time, Raoul and Christine turned round at the same time: - -"There is some one in pain," said Raoul. "Perhaps some one has -been hurt. Did you hear?" - -"I can't say," Christine confessed. "Even when he is not there, -my ears are full of his sighs. Still, if you heard..." - -They stood up and looked around them. They were quite alone -on the immense lead roof. They sat down again and Raoul said: - -"Tell me how you saw him first." - -"I had heard him for three months without seeing him. The first time I -heard it, I thought, as you did, that that adorable voice was singing -in another room. I went out and looked everywhere; but, as you know, -Raoul, my dressing-room is very much by itself; and I could not find -the voice outside my room, whereas it went on steadily inside. -And it not only sang, but it spoke to me and answered my questions, -like a real man's voice, with this difference, that it was as beautiful -as the voice of an angel. I had never got the Angel of Music whom -my poor father had promised to send me as soon as he was dead. -I really think that Mamma Valerius was a little bit to blame. -I told her about it; and she at once said, `It must be the Angel; -at any rate, you can do no harm by asking him.' I did so; -and the man's voice replied that, yes, it was the Angel's voice, -the voice which I was expecting and which my father had promised me. -From that time onward, the voice and I became great friends. -It asked leave to give me lessons every day. I agreed and never failed -to keep the appointment which it gave me in my dressing-room. You -have no idea, though you have heard the voice, of what those lessons -were like." - -"No, I have no idea," said Raoul. "What was your accompaniment?" - -"We were accompanied by a music which I do not know: it was behind -the wall and wonderfully accurate. The voice seemed to understand -mine exactly, to know precisely where my father had left off -teaching me. In a few weeks' time, I hardly knew myself when I sang. -I was even frightened. I seemed to dread a sort of witchcraft -behind it; but Mamma Valerius reassured me. She said that she -knew I was much too simple a girl to give the devil a hold on me. -... My progress, by the voice's own order, was kept a secret -between the voice, Mamma Valerius and myself. It was a curious -thing, but, outside the dressing-room, I sang with my ordinary, -every-day voice and nobody noticed anything. I did all that the -voice asked. It said, `Wait and see: we shall astonish Paris!' -And I waited and lived on in a sort of ecstatic dream. It was then -that I saw you for the first time one evening, in the house. -I was so glad that I never thought of concealing my delight when I -reached my dressing-room. Unfortunately, the voice was there before -me and soon noticed, by my air, that something had happened. -It asked what was the matter and I saw no reason for keeping our -story secret or concealing the place which you filled in my heart. -Then the voice was silent. I called to it, but it did not reply; -I begged and entreated, but in vain. I was terrified lest it had -gone for good. I wish to Heaven it had, dear!...That night, -I went home in a desperate condition. I told Mamma Valerius, who said, -`Why, of course, the voice is jealous!' And that, dear, first revealed -to me that I loved you." - -Christine stopped and laid her head on Raoul's shoulder. They sat -like that for a moment, in silence, and they did not see, did not -perceive the movement, at a few steps from them, of the creeping -shadow of two great black wings, a shadow that came along the roof -so near, so near them that it could have stifled them by closing -over them. - -"The next day," Christine continued, with a sigh, "I went back -to my dressing-room in a very pensive frame of mind. The voice -was there, spoke to me with great sadness and told me plainly that, -if I must bestow my heart on earth, there was nothing for the voice -to do but to go back to Heaven. And it said this with such an accent -of HUMAN sorrow that I ought then and there to have suspected -and begun to believe that I was the victim of my deluded senses. -But my faith in the voice, with which the memory of my father -was so closely intermingled, remained undisturbed. I feared -nothing so much as that I might never hear it again; I had thought -about my love for you and realized all the useless danger of it; -and I did not even know if you remembered me. Whatever happened, -your position in society forbade me to contemplate the possibility -of ever marrying you; and I swore to the voice that you were no -more than a brother to me nor ever would be and that my heart was -incapable of any earthly love. And that, dear, was why I refused to -recognize or see you when I met you on the stage or in the passages. -Meanwhile, the hours during which the voice taught me were spent in -a divine frenzy, until, at last, the voice said to me, `You can now, -Christine Daae, give to men a little of the music of Heaven.' -I don't know how it was that Carlotta did not come to the theater -that night nor why I was called upon to sing in her stead; but I -sang with a rapture I had never known before and I felt for a moment -as if my soul were leaving my body!" - -"Oh, Christine," said Raoul, "my heart quivered that night at every -accent of your voice. I saw the tears stream down your cheeks and I -wept with you. How could you sing, sing like that while crying?" - -"I felt myself fainting," said Christine, "I closed my eyes. -When I opened them, you were by my side. But the voice was -there also, Raoul! I was afraid for your sake and again I would -not recognize you and began to laugh when you reminded me that -you had picked up my scarf in the sea!...Alas, there is no -deceiving the voice!...The voice recognized you and the voice -was jealous!...It said that, if I did not love you, I would not -avoid you, but treat you like any other old friend. It made me -scene upon scene. At last, I said to the voice, `That will do! -I am going to Perros to-morrow, to pray on my father's grave, and I -shall ask M. Raoul de Chagny to go with me.' `Do as you please,' -replied the voice, `but I shall be at Perros too, for I am wherever -you are, Christine; and, if you are still worthy of me, if you -have not lied to me, I will play you The Resurrection of Lazarus, -on the stroke of midnight, on your father's tomb and on your -father's violin.' That, dear, was how I came to write you the -etter that brought you to Perros. How could I have been -so beguiled? How was it, when I saw the personal, the selfish -point of view of the voice, that I did not suspect some impostor? -Alas, I was no longer mistress of myself: I had become his thing!" - -"But, after all," cried Raoul, "you soon came to know the truth! -Why did you not at once rid yourself of that abominable nightmare?" - -"Know the truth, Raoul? Rid myself of that nightmare? But, my poor boy, -I was not caught in the nightmare until the day when I learned -the truth!...Pity me, Raoul, pity me!...You remember -the terrible evening when Carlotta thought that she had been -turned into a toad on the stage and when the house was suddenly -plunged in darkness through the chandelier crashing to the floor? -There were killed and wounded that night and the whole theater rang -with terrified screams. My first thought was for you and the voice. -I was at once easy, where you were concerned, for I had seen you -in your brother's box and I knew that you were not in danger. -But the voice had told me that it would be at the performance and I -was really afraid for it, just as if it had been an ordinary person -who was capable of dying. I thought to myself, `The chandelier -may have come down upon the voice.' I was then on the stage -and was nearly running into the house, to look for the voice among -the killed and wounded, when I thought that, if the voice was safe, -it would be sure to be in my dressing-room and I rushed to my room. -The voice was not there. I locked my door and, with tears in my eyes, -besought it, if it were still alive, to manifest itself to me. -The voice did not reply, but suddenly I heard a long, beautiful wail -which I knew well. It is the plaint of Lazarus when, at the sound -of the Redeemer's voice, he begins to open his eyes and see the light -of day. It was the music which you and I, Raoul, heard at Perros. -And then the voice began to sing the leading phrase, "Come! And believe -in me! Whoso believes in me shall live! Walk! Whoso hath believed -in me shall never die!...' I can not tell you the effect which that -music had upon me. It seemed to command me, personally, to come, -to stand up and come to it. It retreated and I followed. `Come! And -believe in me!' I believed in it, I came....I came and-- -this was the extraordinary thing--my dressing-room, as I moved, -seemed to lengthen out...to lengthen out....Evidently, -it must have been an effect of mirrors...for I had the mirror -in front of me....And, suddenly, I was outside the room without -knowing how!" - -"What! Without knowing how? Christine, Christine, you must really -stop dreaming!" - -"I was not dreaming, dear, I was outside my room without -knowing how. You, who saw me disappear from my room one evening, -may be able to explain it; but I can not. I can only tell you that, -suddenly, there was no mirror before me and no dressing-room. -I was in a dark passage, I was frightened and I cried out. -It was quite dark, but for a faint red glimmer at a distant corner -of the wall. I tried out. My voice was the only sound, -for the singing and the violin had stopped. And, suddenly, -a hand was laid on mine...or rather a stone-cold, bony thing -that seized my wrist and did not let go. I cried out again. -An arm took me round the waist and supported me. I struggled -for a little while and then gave up the attempt. I was dragged -toward the little red light and then I saw that I was in the hands -of a man wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a mask that hid -his whole face. I made one last effort; my limbs stiffened, -my mouth opened to scream, but a hand closed it, a hand which I -felt on my lips, on my skin...a hand that smelt of death. -Then I fainted away. - -"When I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded by darkness. -A lantern, standing on the ground, showed a bubbling well. -The water splashing from the well disappeared, almost at once, -under the floor on which I was lying, with my head on the knee -of the man in the black cloak and the black mask. He was bathing -my temples and his hands smelt of death. I tried to push them -away and asked, `Who are you? Where is the voice?' His only -answer was a sigh. Suddenly, a hot breath passed over my face -and I perceived a white shape, beside the man's black shape, -in the darkness. The black shape lifted me on to the white shape, -a glad neighing greeted my astounded ears and I murmured, -`Cesar!' The animal quivered. Raoul, I was lying half back on -a saddle and I had recognized the white horse out of the PROFETA, -which I had so often fed with sugar and sweets. I remembered that, -one evening, there was a rumor in the theater that the horse -had disappeared and that it had been stolen by the Opera ghost. -I believed in the voice, but had never believed in the ghost. -Now, however, I began to wonder, with a shiver, whether I was -the ghost's prisoner. I called upon the voice to help me, for I -should never have imagined that the voice and the ghost were one. -You have heard about the Opera ghost, have you not, Raoul?" - -"Yes, but tell me what happened when you were on the white horse -of the Profeta?" - -"I made no movement and let myself go. The black shape held me up, -and I made no effort to escape. A curious feeling of peacefulness -came over me and I thought that I must be under the influence of -some cordial. I had the full command of my senses; and my eyes became -used to the darkness, which was lit, here and there, by fitful gleams. -I calculated that we were in a narrow circular gallery, probably running -all round the Opera, which is immense, underground. I had once -been down into those cellars, but had stopped at the third floor, -though there were two lower still, large enough to hold a town. -But the figures of which I caught sight had made me run away. -There are demons down there, quite black, standing in front of boilers, -and they wield shovels and pitchforks and poke up fires and stir up -flames and, if you come too near them, they frighten you by suddenly -opening the red mouths of their furnaces....Well, while Cesar was quietly -carrying me on his back, I saw those black demons in the distance, -looking quite small, in front of the red fires of their furnaces: -they came into sight, disappeared and came into sight again, as we -went on our winding way. At last, they disappeared altogether. -The shape was still holding me up and Cesar walked on, unled and -sure-footed. I could not tell you, even approximately, how long -this ride lasted; I only know that we seemed to turn and turn and -often went down a spiral stair into the very heart of the earth. -Even then, it may be that my head was turning, but I don't think so: -no, my mind was quite clear. At last, Cesar raised his nostrils, -sniffed the air and quickened his pace a little. I felt a moistness -in the air and Cesar stopped. The darkness had lifted. A sort -of bluey light surrounded us. We were on the edge of a lake, -whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the darkness; -but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat fastened -to an iron ring on the wharf!" - -"A boat!" - -"Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing -supernatural about that underground lake and boat. But think of the -exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't -know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's -shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again. -My gruesome escort must have noticed it, for he sent Cesar back -and I heard his hoofs trampling up a staircase while the man jumped -into the boat, untied the rope that held it and seized the oars. -He rowed with a quick, powerful stroke; and his eyes, under the mask, -never left me. We slipped across the noiseless water in the bluey -light which I told you of; then we were in the dark again and we -touched shore. And I was once more taken up in the man's arms. -I cried aloud. And then, suddenly, I was silent, dazed by the light. -...Yes, a dazzling light in the midst of which I had been put down. -I sprang to my feet. I was in the middle of a drawing-room that -seemed to me to be decorated, adorned and furnished with nothing -but flowers, flowers both magnificent and stupid, because of -the silk ribbons that tied them to baskets, like those which they -sell in the shops on the boulevards. They were much too civilized -flowers, like those which I used to find in my dressing-room -after a first night. And, in the midst of all these flowers, -stood the black shape of the man in the mask, with arms crossed, -and he said, `Don't be afraid, Christine; you are in no danger.' -IT WAS THE VOICE! - -"My anger equaled my amazement. I rushed at the mask and tried -to snatch it away, so as to see the face of the voice. The man said, -`You are in no danger, so long as you do not touch the mask.' -And, taking me gently by the wrists, he forced me into a chair -and then went down on his knees before me and said nothing more! -His humility gave me back some of my courage; and the light restored -me to the realties of life. However extraordinary the adventure might be, -I was now surrounded by mortal, visible, tangible things. -The furniture, the hangings, the candles, the vases and the very -flowers in their baskets, of which I could almost have told whence -they came and what they cost, were bound to confine my imagination -to the limits of a drawing-room quite as commonplace as any that, -at least, had the excuse of not being in the cellars of the Opera. -I had, no doubt, to do with a terrible, eccentric person, who, in some -mysterious fashion, had succeeded in taking up his abode there, -under the Opera house, five stories below the level of the ground. -And the voice, the voice which I had recognized under the mask, -was on its knees before me, WAS A MAN! And I began to cry. ... -The man, still kneeling, must have understood the cause of my tears, -for he said, `It is true, Christine!...I am not an Angel, -nor a genius, nor a ghost...I am Erik!'" - -Christine's narrative was again interrupted. An echo behind them -seemed to repeat the word after her. - -"Erik!" - -What echo?...They both turned round and saw that night had fallen. -Raoul made a movement as though to rise, but Christine kept him -beside her. - -"Don't go," she said. "I want you to know everything HERE!" - -"But why here, Christine? I am afraid of your catching cold." - -"We have nothing to fear except the trap-doors, dear, and here we -are miles away from the trap-doors...and I am not allowed to -see you outside the theater. This is not the time to annoy him. -We must not arouse his suspicion." - -"Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong -to wait till to-morrow evening and that we ought to fly at once." - -"I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will -cause him infinite pain." - -"It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him -for good." - -"You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight." -And she added in a dull voice, "But then it counts both ways... -for we risk his killing us." - -"Does he love you so much?" - -"He would commit murder for me." - -"But one can find out where he lives. One can go in search of him. -Now that we know that Erik is not a ghost, one can speak to him -and force him to answer!" - -Christine shook her head. - -"No, no! There is nothing to be done with Erik except to run away!" - -"Then why, when you were able to run away, did you go back to him?" - -"Because I had to. And you will understand that when I tell you -how I left him." - -"Oh, I hate him!" cried Raoul. "And you, Christine, tell me, -do you hate him too?" - -"No," said Christine simply. - -"No, of course not....Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, -all of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind -which people do not admit even to themselves," said Raoul bitterly. -"The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it. -... Picture it: a man who lives in a palace underground!" -And he gave a leer. - -"Then you want me to go back there?" said the young girl cruelly. -"Take care, Raoul; I have told you: I should never return!" - -There was an appalling silence between the three of them: -the two who spoke and the shadow that listened, behind them. - -"Before answering that," said Raoul, at last, speaking very slowly, -"I should like to know with what feeling he inspires you, since you -do not hate him." - -"With horror!" she said. "That is the terrible thing about it. -He fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I -hate him, Raoul? Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on -the lake, underground. He accuses himself, he curses himself, -he implores my forgiveness!...He confesses his cheat. -He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. -... He has carried me off for love!...He has imprisoned me -with him, underground, for love!...But he respects me: he crawls, -he moans, he weeps!...And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told -him that I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, -give me my liberty...he offered it...he offered to show me -the mysterious road...Only...only he rose too...and I -was made to remember that, though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, -nor a genius, he remained the voice...for he sang. And I listened -... and stayed!...That night, we did not exchange another word. -He sang me to sleep. - -"When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished -little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp -standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. -I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from my -room led to a very comfortable bath-room. On returning to the bedroom, -I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, -`My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. -You have no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. -You are alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going -out shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.' -I felt sure that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. -I ran round my little apartment, looking for a way of escape which I -could not find. I upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, -which had caused me to fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh -and to cry at the game time. - -"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving -three taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I -had not noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full -of boxes and parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely -fashion, while I overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon -him to take off his mask, if it covered the face of an honest man. -He replied serenely, `You shall never see Erik's face.' And he -reproached me with not having finished dressing at that time of day: -he was good enough to tell me that it was two o'clock in the afternoon. -He said he would give me half an hour and, while he spoke, wound up -my watch and set it for me. After which, he asked me to come to -the dining-room, where a nice lunch was waiting for us. - -"I was very angry, slammed the door in his face and went to the -bath-room....When I came out again, feeling greatly refreshed, -Erik said that he loved me, but that he would never tell me -so except when I allowed him and that the rest of the time would -be devoted to music. `What do you mean by the rest of the time?' -I asked. `Five days,' he said, with decision. I asked him if I -should then be free and he said, `You will be free, Christine, for, -when those five days are past, you will have learned not to see me; -and then, from time to time, you will come to see your poor Erik!' -He pointed to a chair opposite him, at a small table, and I sat down, -feeling greatly perturbed. However, I ate a few prawns and the wing -of a chicken and drank half a glass of tokay, which he had himself, -he told me, brought from the Konigsberg cellars. Erik did not eat -or drink. I asked him what his nationality was and if that name -of Erik did not point to his Scandinavian origin. He said that he -had no name and no country and that he had taken the name of Erik -by accident. - -"After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, -saying he would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away -my hand and gave a cry. What I had touched was cold and, at the -same time, bony; and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. -`Oh, forgive me!' he moaned. And he opened a door before me. -`This is my bedroom, if you care to see it. It is rather curious.' -His manners, his words, his attitude gave me confidence and I went -in without hesitation. I felt as if I were entering the room of a -dead person. The walls were all hung with black, but, instead of -the white trimmings that usually set off that funereal upholstery, -there was an enormous stave of music with the notes of the DIES IRAE, -many times repeated. In the middle of the room was a canopy, -from which hung curtains of red brocaded stuff, and, under the canopy, -an open coffin. `That is where I sleep,' said Erik. `One has to get -used to everything in life, even to eternity.' The sight upset me -so much that I turned away my head. - -"Then I saw the keyboard of an organ which filled one whole side -of the walls. On the desk was a music-book covered with red notes. -I asked leave to look at it and read, `Don Juan Triumphant.' -`Yes,' he said, `I compose sometimes.' I began that work twenty years ago. -When I have finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin -and never wake up again.' `You must work at it as seldom as you can,' -I said. He replied, `I sometimes work at it for fourteen days -and nights together, during which I live on music only, -and then I rest for years at a time.' `Will you play me something -out of your Don Juan Triumphant?' I asked, thinking to please him. -`You must never ask me that,' he said, in a gloomy voice. -`I will play you Mozart, if you like, which will only make you weep; -but my Don Juan, Christine, burns; and yet he is not struck by fire -from Heaven.' Thereupon we returned to the drawing-room. I noticed -that there was no mirror in the whole apartment. I was going -to remark upon this, but Erik had already sat down to the piano. -He said, `You see, Christine, there is some music that is so terrible -that it consumes all those who approach it. Fortunately, you have -not come to that music yet, for you would lose all your pretty -coloring and nobody would know you when you returned to Paris. -Let us sing something from the Opera, Christine Daae.' -He spoke these last words as though he were flinging an insult -at me." - -"What did you do?" - -"I had no time to think about the meaning he put into his words. -We at once began the duet in Othello and already the catastrophe -was upon us. I sang Desdemona with a despair, a terror which I -had never displayed before. As for him, his voice thundered -forth his revengeful soul at every note. Love, jealousy, hatred, -burst out around us in harrowing cries. Erik's black mask made -me think of the natural mask of the Moor of Venice. He was -Othello himself. Suddenly, I felt a need to see beneath the mask. -I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a movement -which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore -away the mask. Oh, horror, horror, horror!" - -Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, -while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, -now thrice moaned the cry: - -"Horror!...Horror!...Horror!" - -Raoul and Christine, clasping each other closely, raised their eyes -to the stars that shone in a clear and peaceful sky. Raoul said: - -"Strange, Christine, that this calm, soft night should be so full -of plaintive sounds. One would think that it was sorrowing with us." - -"When you know the secret, Raoul, your cars, like mine, will be -full of lamentations." - -She took Raoul's protecting hands in hers and, with a long shiver, continued: - -"Yes, if I lived to be a hundred, I should always hear the superhuman -cry of grief and rage which he uttered when the terrible sight appeared -before my eyes....Raoul, you have seen death's heads, when they -have been dried and withered by the centuries, and, perhaps, if you -were not the victim of a nightmare, you saw HIS death's head at Perros. -And then you saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. -But all those death's heads were motionless and their dumb horror -was not alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death's mask suddenly -coming to life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, -its nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; -AND NOT A RAY OF LIGHT FROM THE SOCKETS, for, as I learned later, -you can not see his blazing eyes except in the dark. - -"I fell back against the wall and he came up to me, grinding his -teeth, and, as I fell upon my knees, he hissed mad, incoherent words -and curses at me. Leaning over me, he cried, `Look! You want -to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! -Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were -not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like! -Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? -I'm a very good-looking fellow, eh?...When a woman has seen me, -as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind -of Don Juan, you know!' And, drawing himself up to his full height, -with his hand on his hip, wagging the hideous thing that was -his head on his shoulders, he roared, `Look at me! I AM DON -JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned away my head and begged for mercy, -he drew it to him, brutally, twisting his dead fingers into my hair." - -"Enough! Enough!" cried Raoul. "I will kill him. In Heaven's -name, Christine, tell me where the dining-room on the lake is! -I must kill him!" - -"Oh, be quiet, Raoul, if you want to know!" - -"Yes, I want to know how and why you went back; I must know!... -But, in any case, I will kill him!" - -"Oh, Raoul, listen, listen!...He dragged me by my hair and then -...and then...Oh, it is too horrible!" - -"Well, what? Out with it!" exclaimed Raoul fiercely. -"Out with it, quick!" - -"Then he hissed at me. `Ah, I frighten you, do I?...I dare -say!...Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that -this...this...my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, -`tear it off as you did the other! Come! Come along! I insist! -Your hands! Your hands! Give me your hands!' And he seized my -hands and dug them into his awful face. He tore his flesh with -my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails!...`Know,' -he shouted, while his throat throbbed and panted like a furnace, -`know that I am built up of death from head to foot and that it -is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will never, -never leave you!...Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, -crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore -can never leave me again!...As long as you thought me handsome, -you could have come back, I know you would have come back...but, -now that you know my hideousness, you would run away for good. -...So I shall keep you here!...Why did you want to see me? -Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me!...When my own father -never saw me and when my mother, so as not to see me, made me -a present of my first mask!' - -"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the floor, -uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, -went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my reflections. -Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I began -to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about Opera music. -What I now heard was utterly different from what I had heard up to then. -His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but that he had rushed -to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the moment) seemed to me -at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, little by little, -it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. -It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that separated us. -Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY DIRECTION. -`Erik,' I cried, `show me your face without fear! I swear that you -are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I shiver -when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the splendor -of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, and I -also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love... -with words of love in his dead mouth...and the music had ceased... -He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my eyes. - -"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy. -It went on for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him. -My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them; -but they were the price of my liberty. I burned his mask; -and I managed so well that, even when he was not singing, -he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its master. -He was my faithful slave and paid me endless little attentions. -Gradually, I gave him such confidence that he ventured to take me -walking on the banks of the lake and to row me in the boat on its -leaden waters; toward the end of my captivity he let me out through -the gates that closed the underground passages in the Rue Scribe. -Here a carriage awaited us and took us to the Bois. The night when we -met you was nearly fatal to me, for he is terribly jealous of you -and I had to tell him that you were soon going away....Then, -at last, after a fortnight of that horrible captivity, during which I -was filled with pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, -he believed me when I said, `I WILL COME BACK!'" - -"And you went back, Christine," groaned Raoul. - -"Yes, dear, and I must tell you that it was not his frightful -threats when setting me free that helped me to keep my word, -but the harrowing sob which he gave on the threshold of the tomb. -... That sob attached me to the unfortunate man more than I myself -suspected when saying good-by to him. Poor Erik! Poor Erik!" - -"Christine," said Raoul, rising, "you tell me that you love me; -but you had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you -returned to Erik! Remember the masked ball!" - -"Yes; and do you remember those hours which I passed with you, -Raoul...to the great danger of both of us?" - -"I doubted your love for me, during those hours." - -"Do you doubt it still, Raoul?...Then know that each of my -visits to Erik increased my horror of him; for each of those visits, -instead of calming him, as I hoped, made him mad with love! -And I am so frightened, so frightened!... - -"You are frightened...but do you love me? If Erik were -good-looking, would you love me, Christine?" - -She rose in her turn, put her two trembling arms round the young -man's neck and said: - -"Oh, my betrothed of a day, if I did not love you, I would not give -you my lips! Take them, for the first time and the last." - -He kissed her lips; but the night that surrounded them was rent -asunder, they fled as at the approach of a storm and their eyes, -filled with dread of Erik, showed them, before they disappeared, -high up above them, an immense night-bird that stared at them with -its blazing eyes and seemed to cling to the string of Apollo's lyre. - - - -Chapter XIII A Master-Stroke of the Trap-Door Lover - - -Raoul and Christine ran, eager to escape from the roof -and the blazing eyes that showed only in the dark; and they -did not stop before they came to the eighth floor on the way down. - -There was no performance at the Opera that night and the passages -were empty. Suddenly, a queer-looking form stood before them -and blocked the road: - -"No, not this way!" - -And the form pointed to another passage by which they were to reach -the wings. Raoul wanted to stop and ask for an explanation. -But the form, which wore a sort of long frock-coat and a pointed -cap, said: - -"Quick! Go away quickly!" - -Christine was already dragging Raoul, compelling him to start -running again. - -"But who is he? Who is that man?" he asked. - -Christine replied: "It's the Persian." - -"What's he doing here?" - -"Nobody knows. He is always in the Opera." - -"You are making me run away, for the first time in my life. -If we really saw Erik, what I ought to have done was to nail him -to Apollo's lyre, just as we nail the owls to the walls of our -Breton farms; and there would have been no more question of him." - -"My dear Raoul, you would first have had to climb up to Apollo's lyre: -that is no easy matter." - -"The blazing eyes were there!" - -"Oh, you are getting like me now, seeing him everywhere! -What I took for blazing eyes was probably a couple of stars shining -through the strings of the lyre." - -And Christine went down another floor, with Raoul following her. - -"As you have quite made up your mind to go, Christine, I assure -you it would be better to go at once. Why wait for to-morrow? He -may have heard us to-night." - -"No, no, he is working, I tell you, at his Don Juan Triumphant -and not thinking of us." - -"You're so sure of that you keep on looking behind you!" - -"Come to my dressing-room." - -"Hadn't we better meet outside the Opera?" - -"Never, till we go away for good! It would bring us bad luck, -if I did not keep my word. I promised him to see you only here." - -"It's a good thing for me that he allowed you even that. Do you know," -said Raoul bitterly, "that it was very plucky of you to let us play -at being engaged?" - -"Why, my dear, he knows all about it! He said, `I trust you, -Christine. M. de Chagny is in love with you and is going abroad. -Before he goes, I want him to be as happy as I am.' Are people -so unhappy when they love?" - -"Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved." - -They came to Christine's dressing-room. - -"Why do you think that you are safer in this room than on the stage?" -asked Raoul. "You heard him through the walls here, therefore he -can certainly hear us." - -"No. He gave me his word not to be behind the walls of my dressing-room -again and I believe Erik's word. This room and my bedroom -on the lake are for me, exclusively, and not to be approached by him." - -"How can you have gone from this room into that dark passage, -Christine? Suppose we try to repeat your movements; shall we?" - -"It is dangerous, dear, for the glass might carry me off again; -and, instead of running away, I should be obliged to go to the end -of the secret passage to the lake and there call Erik." - -"Would he hear you?" - -"Erik will hear me wherever I call him. He told me so. He is a -very curious genius. You must not think, Raoul, that he is simply -a man who amuses himself by living underground. He does things that -no other man could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows." - -"Take care, Christine, you are making a ghost of him again!" - -"No, he is not a ghost; he is a man of Heaven and earth, that is all." - -"A man of Heaven and earth...that is al!...A nice way to speak of him! -...And are you still resolved to run away from him?" - -"Yes, to-morrow." - -"To-morrow, you will have no resolve left!" - -"Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself; -is that understood?" - -"I shall be here at twelve to-morrow night; I shall keep my promise, -whatever happens. You say that, after listening to the performance, -he is to wait for you in the dining-room on the lake?" - -"Yes." - -"And how are you to reach him, if you don't know how to go out -by the glass?" - -"Why, by going straight to the edge of the lake." - -Christine opened a box, took out an enormous key and showed it -to Raoul. - -"What's that?" he asked. - -"The key of the gate to the underground passage in the Rue Scribe." - -"I understand, Christine. It leads straight to the lake. -Give it to me, Christine, will you?" - -"Never!" she said. "That would bet reacherous!" - -Suddenly Christine changed color. A mortal pallor overspread -her features. - -"Oh heavens!" she cried. "Erik! Erik! Have pity on me!" - -"Hold your tongue!" said Raoul. "You told me he could hear you!" - -But the singer's attitude became more and more inexplicable. -She wrung her fingers, repeating, with a distraught air; - -"Oh, Heaven! Oh, Heaven!" - -"But what is it? What is it?" Raoul implored. - -"The ring...the gold ring he gave me." - -"Oh, so Erik gave you that ring!" - -"You know he did, Raoul! But what you don't know is that, -when he gave it to me, he said, `I give you back your liberty, -Christine, on condition that this ring is always on your finger. -As long as you keep it, you will be protected against all danger -and Erik will remain your friend. But woe to you if you ever part -with it, for Erik will have his revenge!'...My dear, my dear, -the ring is gone!...Woe to us both!" - -They both looked for the ring, but could not find it. -Christine refused to be pacified. - -"It was while I gave you that kiss, up above, under Apollo's lyre," -she said. "The ring must have slipped from my finger and dropped -into the street! We can never find it. And what misfortunes are -in store for us now! Oh, to run away!" - -"Let us run away at once," Raoul insisted, once more. - -She hesitated. He thought that she was going to say yes. -... Then her bright pupils became dimmed and she said: - -"No! To-morrow!" - -And she left him hurriedly, still wringing and rubbing her fingers, -as though she hoped to bring the ring back like that. - -Raoul went home, greatly perturbed at all that he had heard. - -{two page color illustration} -They Sat Like that for a Moment in Silence - -"If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug," he said, -aloud, as he went to bed, "she is lost. But I shall save her." - -He put out his lamp and felt a need to insult Erik in the dark. -Thrice over, he shouted: - -"Humbug!...Humbug!...Humbug!" - -But, suddenly, he raised himself on his elbow. A cold sweat poured -from his temples. Two eyes, like blazing coals, had appeared -at the foot of his bed. They stared at him fixedly, terribly, -in the darkness of the night. - -Raoul was no coward; and yet he trembled. He put out a groping, -hesitating hand toward the table by his bedside. He found the matches -and lit his candle. The eyes disappeared. - -Still uneasy in his mind, he thought to himself: - -"She told me that HIS eyes only showed in the dark. His eyes -have disappeared in the light, but HE may be there still." - -And he rose, hunted about, went round the room. He looked -under his bed, like a child. Then he thought himself absurd, -got into bed again and blew out the candle. The eyes reappeared. - -He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed. -Then he cried: - -"Is that you, Erik? Man, genius, or ghost, is it you?" - -He reflected: "If it's he, he's on the balcony!" - -Then he ran to the chest of drawers and groped for his revolver. -He opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and dosed -the window again. He went back to bed, shivering, for the night -was cold, and put the revolver on the table within his reach. - -The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed. Were they -between the bed and the window-pane or behind the pane, that is -to say, on the balcony? That was what Raoul wanted to know. -He also wanted to know if those eyes belonged to a human being. -...He wanted to know everything. Then, patiently, calmly, he seized -his revolver and took aim. He aimed a little above the two eyes. -Surely, if they were eyes and if above those two eyes there was -a forehead and if Raoul was not too clumsy... - -The shot made a terrible din amid the silence of the slumbering house. -And, while footsteps came hurrying along the passages, Raoul sat -up with outstretched arm, ready to fire again, if need be. - -This time, the two eyes had disappeared. - -Servants appeared, carrying lights; Count Philippe, terribly anxious: - -"What is it?" - -"I think I have been dreaming," replied the young man. "I fired -at two stars that kept me from sleeping." - -"You're raving! Are you ill? For God's sake, tell me, Raoul: -what happened?" - -And the count seized hold of the revolver. - -"No, no, I'm not raving. .. Besides, we shall soon see..." - -He got out of bed, put on a dressing-gown and slippers, took a light -from the hands of a servant and, opening the window, stepped out -on the balcony. - -The count saw that the window had been pierced by a bullet at a -man's height. Raoul was leaning over the balcony with his candle: -"Aha!" he said. "Blood!...Blood!..... Here, there, more blood! -... That's a good thing! A ghost who bleeds is less dangerous!" -he grinned. - -"Raoul! Raoul! Raoul!" - -The count was shaking him as though he were trying to waken -a sleep-walker. - -"But, my dear brother, I'm not asleep!" Raoul protested impatiently. -"You can see the blood for yourself. I thought I had been dreaming -and firing at two stars. It was Erik's eyes...and here is his -blood!...After all, perhaps I was wrong to shoot; and Christine -is quite capable of never forgiving me....All this would not -have happened if I had drawn the curtains before going to bed." - -"Raoul, have you suddenly gone mad? Wake up!" - -"What, still? You would do better to help me find Erik...for, -after all, a ghost who bleeds can always be found." - -The count's valet said: - -"That is so, sir; there is blood on the balcony." - -The other man-servant brought a lamp, by the light of which they -examined the balcony carefully. The marks of blood followed the rail -till they reached a gutter-spout; then they went up the gutter-spout. - -"My dear fellow," said Count Philippe, "you have fired at a cat." - -"The misfortune is," said Raoul, with a grin, "that it's -quite possible. With Erik, you never know. Is it Erik? -Is it the cat? Is it the ghost? No, with Erik, you can't tell!" - -Raoul went on making this strange sort of remarks which corresponded -so intimately and logically with the preoccupation of his brain -and which, at the same time, tended to persuade many people -that his mind was unhinged. The count himself was seized with -this idea; and, later, the examining magistrate, on receiving -the report of the commissary of police, came to the same conclusion. - -"Who is Erik?" asked the count, pressing his brother's hand. - -"He is my rival. And, if he's not dead, it's a pity." - -He dismissed the servants with a wave of the hand and the two -Chagnys were left alone. But the men were not out of earshot -before the count's valet heard Raoul say, distinctly and emphatically: - -"I shall carry off Christine Daae to-night." - -This phrase was afterward repeated to M. Faure, the examining-magistrate. -But no one ever knew exactly what passed between the two -brothers at this interview. The servants declared that this -was not their first quarrel. Their voices penetrated the wall; -and it was always an actress called Christine Daae that was in question. - -At breakfast--the early morning breakfast, which the count took -in his study--Philippe sent for his brother. Raoul arrived silent -and gloomy. The scene was a very short one. Philippe handed -his brother a copy of the Epoque and said: - -"Read that!" - -The viscount read: - -"The latest news in the Faubourg is that there is a promise of marriage -between Mlle. Christine Daae, the opera-singer, and M. le Vicomte -Raoul de Chagny. If the gossips are to be credited, Count Philippe -has sworn that, for the first time on record, the Chagnys shall not -keep their promise. But, as love is all-powerful, at the Opera as-- -and even more than--elsewhere, we wonder how Count Philippe intends -to prevent the viscount, his brother, from leading the new Margarita -to the altar. The two brothers are said to adore each other; -but the count is curiously mistaken if he imagines that brotherly -love will triumph over love pure and simple." - -"You see, Raoul," said the count, "you are making us ridiculous! -That little girl has turned your head with her ghost-stories." - -The viscount had evidently repeated Christine's narrative -to his brother, during the night. All that he now said was: - -"Good-by, Philippe." - -"Have you quite made up your mind? You are going to-night? With her?" - -No reply. - -"Surely you will not do anything so foolish? I SHALL know -how to prevent you!" - -"Good-by, Philippe," said the viscount again and left the room. - -This scene was described to the examining-magistrate by the -count himself, who did not see Raoul again until that evening, -at the Opera, a few minutes before Christine's disappearance. - -Raoul, in fact, devoted the whole day to his preparations for -the flight. The horses, the carriage, the coachman, the provisions, -the luggage, the money required for the journey, the road to be -taken (he had resolved not to go by train, so as to throw the ghost -off the scent): all this had to be settled and provided for; -and it occupied him until nine o'clock at night. - -At nine o'clock, a sort of traveling-barouche with the curtains of its -windows close-down, took its place in the rank on the Rotunda side. -It was drawn by two powerful horses driven by a coachman whose -face was almost concealed in the long folds of a muffler. -In front of this traveling-carriage were three broughams, -belonging respectively to Carlotta, who had suddenly returned to Paris, -to Sorelli and, at the head of the rank, to Comte Philippe de Chagny. -No one left the barouche. The coachman remained on his box, -and the three other coachmen remained on theirs. - -A shadow in a long black cloak and a soft black felt hat passed along -the pavement between the Rotunda and the carriages, examined the barouche -carefully, went up to the horses and the coachman and then moved away -without saying a word, The magistrate afterward believed that this -shadow was that of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny; but I do not agree, -seeing that that evening, as every evening, the Vicomte de Chagny -was wearing a tall hat, which hat, besides, was subsequently found. -I am more inclined to think that the shadow was that of the ghost, -who knew all about the whole affair, as the reader will soon perceive. - -They were giving FAUST, as it happened, before a splendid house. -The Faubourg was magnificently represented; and the paragraph -in that morning's EPOQUE had already produced its effect, for all -eyes were turned to the box in which Count Philippe sat alone, -apparently in a very indifferent and careless frame of mind. -The feminine element in the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled; -and the viscount's absence gave rise to any amount of whispering -behind the fans. Christine Daae met with a rather cold reception. -That special audience could not forgive her for aiming so high. - -The singer noticed this unfavorable attitude of a portion -of the house and was confused by it. - -The regular frequenters of the Opera, who pretended to know -the truth about the viscount's love-story, exchanged significant -smiles at certain passages in Margarita's part; and they made a show -of turning and looking at Philippe de Chagny's box when Christine sang: - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is." - -The count sat with his chin on his hand and seemed to pay no attention -to these manifestations. He kept his eyes fixed on the stage; -but his thoughts appeared to be far away. - -Christine lost her self-assurance more and more. She trembled. -She felt on the verge of a breakdown....Carolus Fonta -wondered if she was ill, if she could keep the stage until the end -of the Garden Act. In the front of the house, people remembered -the catastrophe that had befallen Carlotta at the end of that act -and the historic "co-ack" which had momentarily interrupted her -career in Paris. - -Just then, Carlotta made her entrance in a box facing the stage, -a sensational entrance. Poor Christine raised her eyes upon this -fresh subject of excitement. She recognized her rival. She thought -she saw a sneer on her lips. That saved her. She forgot everything, -in order to triumph once more. - -From that moment the prima donna sang with all her heart and soul. -She tried to surpass all that she had done till then; and she succeeded. -In the last act when she began the invocation to the angels, -she made all the members of the audience feel as though they too -had wings. - -In the center of the amphitheater a man stood up and remained standing, -facing the singer. It was Raoul. - -"Holy angel, in Heaven blessed..." - -And Christine, her arms outstretched, her throat filled with music, -the glory of her hair falling over her bare shoulders, uttered the -divine cry: - -"My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -It was at that moment that the stage was suddenly plunged in darkness. -It happened so quickly that the spectators hardly had time to utter -a sound of stupefaction, for the gas at once lit up the stage again. -But Christine Daae was no longer there! - -What had become of her? What was that miracle? All exchanged -glances without understanding, and the excitement at once reached -its height. Nor was the tension any less great on the stage itself. -Men rushed from the wings to the spot where Christine had been -singing that very instant. The performance was interrupted amid -the greatest disorder. - -Where had Christine gone? What witchcraft had snatched her, -away before the eyes of thousands of enthusiastic onlookers and from -the arms of Carolus Fonta himself? It was as though the angels -had really carried her up "to rest." - -Raoul, still standing up in the amphitheater, had uttered a cry. -Count Philippe had sprung to his feet in his box. People looked -at the stage, at the count, at Raoul, and wondered if this -curious event was connected in any way with the paragraph in that -morning's paper. But Raoul hurriedly left his seat, the count -disappeared from his box and, while the curtain was lowered, -the subscribers rushed to the door that led behind the scenes. -The rest of the audience waited amid an indescribable hubbub. -Every one spoke at once. Every one tried to suggest an explanation -of the extraordinary incident. - -At last, the curtain rose slowly and Carolus Fonta stepped -to the conductor's desk and, in a sad and serious voice, said: - -"Ladies and gentlemen, an unprecedented event has taken place and -thrown us into a state of the greatest alarm. Our sister-artist, -Christine Daae, has disappeared before our eyes and nobody can -tell us how!" - - - -Chapter XIV The Singular Attitude of a Safety-Pin - - -Behind the curtain, there was an indescribable crowd. -Artists, scene-shifters, dancers, supers, choristers, subscribers -were all asking questions, shouting and hustling one another. - -"What became of her?" - -"She's run away." - -"With the Vicomte de Chagny, of course!" - -"No, with the count!" - -"Ah, here's Carlotta! Carlotta did the trick!" - -"No, it was the ghost!" And a few laughed, especially as a -careful examination of the trap-doors and boards had put the idea -of an accident out of the question. - -Amid this noisy throng, three men stood talking in a low voice -and with despairing gestures. They were Gabriel, the chorus-master; -Mercier, the acting-manager; and Remy, the secretary. They retired -to a corner of the lobby by which the stage communicates -with the wide passage leading to the foyer of the ballet. -Here they stood and argued behind some enormous "properties." - -"I knocked at the door," said Remy. "They did not answer. -Perhaps they are not in the office. In any case, it's impossible -to find out, for they took the keys with them," - -"They" were obviously the managers, who had given orders, -during the last entr'acte, that they were not to be disturbed -on any pretext whatever. They were not in to anybody. - -"All the same," exclaimed Gabriel, "a singer isn't run away with, -from the middle of the stage, every day!" - -"Did you shout that to them?" asked Mercier, impatiently. - -"I'll go back again," said Remy, and disappeared at a run. - -Thereupon the stage-manager arrived. - -"Well, M. Mercier, are you coming? What are you two doing here? -You're wanted, Mr. Acting-Manager." - -"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives," -declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when -he comes!" - -"And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." - -"Not before the commissary comes." - -"I've been down to the organ myself already." - -"Ah! And what did you see?" - -"Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear--nobody!" - -"What do you want me to do down there for{sic}?" - -"You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his -hands through his rebellious hair. "You're right! But there -might be some one at the organ who could tell us how the stage came -to be suddenly darkened. Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found. -Do you understand that?" - -Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on -the stage of the Opera. - -"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback. -"Well, what about his assistants?" - -"There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, -I tell you! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that -little girl must have, been carried off by somebody else: she didn't -run away by herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find -out about it....And what are the managers doing all this time? -... I gave orders that no one was to go down to the lights and I -posted a fireman in front of the gas-man's box beside the organ. -Wasn't that right?" - -"Yes, yes, quite right, quite right. And now let's wait -for the commissary." - -The stage-manager walked away, shrugging his shoulders, fuming, -muttering insults at those milksops who remained quietly squatting -in a corner while the whole theater was topsyturvy{sic}. - -Gabriel and Mercier were not so quiet as all that. Only they -had received an order that paralyzed them. The managers were not -to be disturbed on any account. Remy had violated that order -and met with no success. - -At that moment he returned from his new expedition, wearing a -curiously startled air. - -"Well, have you seen them?" asked Mercier. - -"Moncharmin opened the door at last. His eyes were starting out -of his head. I thought he meant to strike me. I could not get -a word in; and what do you think he shouted at me? `Have you -a safety-pin?' `No!' `Well, then, clearout!' I tried to tell him -that an unheard-of thing had happened on the stage, but he roared, -`A safety-pin! Give me a safety-pin at once!' A boy heard him-- -he was bellowing like a bull--ran up with a safety-pin and gave it -to him; whereupon Moncharmin slammed the door in my face, and there -you are!" - -"And couldn't you have said, `Christine Daae.'" - -"I should like to have seen you in my place. He was foaming at -the mouth. He thought of nothing but his safety-pin. I believe, -if they hadn't brought him one on the spot, he would have fallen -down in a fit!...Oh, all this isn't natural; and our managers -are going mad!...Besides, it can't go on like this! I'm not used -to being treated in that fashion!" - -Suddenly Gabriel whispered: - -"It's another trick of O. G.'s." - -Rimy gave a grin, Mercier a sigh and seemed about to speak...but, -meeting Gabriel's eye, said nothing. - -However, Mercier felt his responsibility increased as the minutes -passed without the managers' appearing; and, at last, he could -stand it no longer. - -"Look here, I'll go and hunt them out myself!" - -Gabriel, turning very gloomy and serious, stopped him. - -"Be careful what you're doing, Mercier! If they're staying -in their office, it's probably because they have to! O. G. has -more than one trick in his bag!" - -But Mercier shook his head. - -"That's their lookout! I'm going! If people had listened to me, -the police would have known everything long ago!" - -And he went. - -"What's everything?" asked Remy. "What was there to tell the police? -Why don't you answer, Gabriel?...Ah, so you know something! -Well, you would do better to tell me, too, if you don't want me -to shout out that you are all going mad!...Yes, that's what -you are: mad!" - -Gabriel put on a stupid look and pretended not to understand -the private secretary's unseemly outburst. - -"What `something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know -what you mean." - -Remy began to lose his temper. - -"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics, -here, between the acts." - -"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed. - -"Then you're the only one!...Do you think that I didn't see -them?...And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, -noticed nothing?...And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, -has no eyes to see with?...Why, all the subscribers were pointing -at our managers!" - -"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his -most innocent air. - -"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they -were doing!...You were there!...And you were watching them, -you and Mercier!...And you were the only two who didn't laugh. - -"I don't understand!" - -Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, -which gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest -him in the least. Remy continued: - -"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY -HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR, THEM NOW?" - -"What? WON'T THEY, HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?" - -"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!" - -"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH -THEM? That is certainly odd!" - -"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK BACKWARD!" - -"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought -that only crabs walked backward!" - -"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!" - -"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge. - -"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend -of the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer, -during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did -M. Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, `Go away! Go away! -Whatever you do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have -an infectious disease?" - -"It's incredible!" - -"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard, -didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear -him exclaim, `M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch -M. le Directeur'?" - -"It's terrible!...And what was Richard doing meanwhile?" - -"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, -BOWED IN FRONT OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, -AND WITHDREW BACKWARD." - -"BACKWARD?" - -"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, -he described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED -BACKWARD!...And they went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading -to the managers' office: BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! -... Well, if they are not mad, will you explain what it means?" - -"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggested Gabriel, -without much conviction in his voice. - -The secretary was furious at this wretched joke, made at so -dramatic a moment. He knit his brows and contracted his lips. -Then he put his mouth to Gabriel's ear: - -"Don't be so sly, Gabriel. There are things going on for which you -and Mercier are partly responsible." - -"What do you mean?" asked Gabriel. - -"Christine Daae is not the only one who suddenly disappeared to-night." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"There's no nonsense about it. Perhaps you can tell me why, -when Mother Giry came down to the foyer just now, Mercier took -her by the hand and hurried her away with him?" - -"Really?" said Gabriel, "I never saw it." - -"You did see it, Gabriel, for you went with Mercier and Mother Giry -to Mercier's office. Since then, you and Mercier have been seen, -but no one has seen Mother Giry." - -"Do you think we've eaten her?" - -"No, but you've locked her up in the office; and any one passing -the office can hear her yelling, `Oh, the scoundrels! Oh, -the scoundrels!'" - -At this point of this singular conversation, Mercier arrived, -all out of breath. - -"There!" he said, in a gloomy voice. "It's worse than ever!... -I shouted, `It's a serious matter! Open the door! It's I, Mercier.' -I heard footsteps. The door opened and Moncharmin appeared. -He was very pale. He said, `What do you want?' I answered, `Some one -has run away with Christine Daae.' What do you think he said? -`And a good job, too!' And he shut the door, after putting this -in my hand." - -Mercier opened his hand; Remy and Gabriel looked. - -"The safety-pin!" cried Remy. - -"Strange! Strange!" muttered Gabriel, who could not help shivering. - -Suddenly a voice made them all three turn round. - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine -Daae is?" - -In spite of the seriousness of the circumstances, the absurdity -of the question would have made them roar with laughter, if they -had not caught sight of a face so sorrow-stricken that they were -at once seized with pity. It was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. - - - -Chapter XV Christine! Christine! - - -Raoul's first thought, after Christine Daae's fantastic disappearance, -was to accuse Erik. He no longer doubted the almost supernatural -powers of the Angel of Music, in this domain of the Opera in -which he had set up his empire. And Raoul rushed on the stage, -in a mad fit of love and despair. - -"Christine! Christine!" he moaned, calling to her as he felt -that she must be calling to him from the depths of that dark pit -to which the monster had carried her. "Christine! Christine!" - -And he seemed to hear the girl's screams through the frail boards -that separated him from her. He bent forward, he listened, -...he wandered over the stage like a madman. Ah, to descend, -to descend into that pit of darkness every entrance to which was -closed to him,...for the stairs that led below the stage were -forbidden to one and all that night! - -"Christine! Christine!..." - -People pushed him aside, laughing. They made fun of him. -They thought the poor lover's brain was gone! - -By what mad road, through what passages of mystery and darkness -known to him alone had Erik dragged that pure-souled child to the -awful haunt, with the Louis-Philippe room, opening out on the lake? - -"Christine! Christine!...Why don't you answer?...Are you -alive?..." - -Hideous thoughts flashed through Raoul's congested brain. -Of course, Erik must have discovered their secret, must have known -that Christine had played him false. What a vengeance would be his! - -And Raoul thought again of the yellow stars that had come, -the night before, and roamed over his balcony. Why had he not put -them out for good? There were some men's eyes that dilated in the -darkness and shone like stars or like cats' eyes. Certainly Albinos, -who seemed to have rabbits' eyes by day, had cats' eyes at night: -everybody knew that!...Yes, yes, he had undoubtedly fired at Erik. -Why had he not killed him? The monster had fled up the gutter-spout -like a cat or a convict who--everybody knew that also--would scale -the very skies, with the help of a gutter-spout....No doubt Erik -was at that time contemplating some decisive step against Raoul, -but he had been wounded and had escaped to turn against poor -Christine instead. - -Such were the cruel thoughts that haunted Raoul as he ran -to the singer's dressing-room. - -"Christine! Christine!" - -Bitter tears scorched the boy's eyelids as he saw scattered over -the furniture the clothes which his beautiful bride was to have worn -at the hour of their flight. Oh, why had she refused to leave earlier? - -Why had she toyed with the threatening catastrophe? Why toyed -with the monster's heart? Why, in a final access of pity, -had she insisted on flinging, as a last sop to that dcmon's soul, -her divine song: - - "Holy angel, in Heaven blessed, - My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -Raoul, his throat filled with sobs, oaths and insults, -fumbled awkwardly at the great mirror that had opened one night, -before his eyes, to let Christine pass to the murky dwelling below. -He pushed, pressed, groped about, but the glass apparently obeyed -no one but Erik....Perhaps actions were not enough with a glass -of the kind? Perhaps he was expected to utter certain words? -When he was a little boy, he had heard that there were things -that obeyed the spoken word! - -Suddenly, Raoul remembered something about a gate opening into -the Rue Scribe, an underground passage running straight to the Rue -Scribe from the lake....Yes, Christine had told him about that. -...And, when he found that the key was no longer in the box, -he nevertheless ran to the Rue Scribe. Outside, in the street, -he passed his trembling hands over the huge stones, felt for outlets -...met with iron bars...were those they?...Or these?... -Or could it be that air-hole?...He plunged his useless eyes -through the bars....How dark it was in there!...He listened.... -All was silence!...He went round the building...and came to bigger bars, -immense gates!...It was the entrance to the Cour de I'Administration. - -Raoul rushed into the doorkeeper's lodge. - -"I beg your pardon, madame, could you tell me where to find a gate -or door, made of bars, iron bars, opening into the Rue Scribe... -and leading to the lake?...You know the lake I mean?...Yes, -the underground lake...under the Opera." - -"Yes, sir, I know there is a lake under the Opera, but I don't know -which door leads to it. I have never been there!" - -"And the Rue Scribe, madame, the Rue Scribe? Have you never been -to the Rue Scribe?" - -The woman laughed, screamed with laughter! Raoul darted away, -roaring with anger, ran up-stairs, four stairs at a time, -down-stairs, rushed through the whole of the business side -of the opera-house, found himself once more in the light of the stage. - -He stopped, with his heart thumping in his chest: suppose Christine -Daae had been found? He saw a group of men and asked: - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine -Daae is?" - -And somebody laughed. - -At the same moment the stage buzzed with a new sound and, amid a crowd -of men in evening-dress, all talking and gesticulating together, -appeared a man who seemed very calm and displayed a pleasant face, -all pink and chubby-cheeked, crowned with curly hair and lit up by a -pair of wonderfully serene blue eyes. Mercier, the acting-manager, -called the Vicomte de Chagny's attention to him and said: - -"This is the gentleman to whom you should put your question, monsieur. -Let me introduce Mifroid, the commissary of police." - -"Ah, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! Delighted to meet you, monsieur," -said the commissary. "Would you mind coming with me?...And -now where are the managers?...Where are the managers?" - -Mercier did not answer, and Remy, the secretary, volunteered the -information that the managers were locked up in their office -and that they knew nothing as yet of what had happened. - -"You don't mean to say so! Let us go up to the office!" - -And M. Mifroid, followed by an ever-increasing crowd, turned toward -the business side of the building. Mercier took advantage -of the confusion to slip a key into Gabriel's hand: - -"This is all going very badly," he whispered. "You had better let -Mother Giry out." - -And Gabriel moved away. - -They soon came to the managers' door. Mercier stormed in vain: -the door remained closed. - -"Open in the name of the law!" commanded M. Mifroid, in a loud -and rather anxious voice. - -At last the door was opened. All rushed in to the office, -on the commissary's heels. - -Raoul was the last to enter. As he was about to follow the rest -into the room, a hand was laid on his shoulder and he heard these words -spoken in his ear: - -"ERIK'S SECRETS CONCERN NO ONE BUT HIMSELF!" - -He turned around, with a stifled exclamation. The hand that was -laid on his shoulder was now placed on the lips of a person with an -ebony skin, with eyes of jade and with an astrakhan cap on his head: -the Persian! The stranger kept up the gesture that recommended -discretion and then, at the moment when the astonished viscount -was about to ask the reason of his mysterious intervention, -bowed and disappeared. - - - -Chapter XVI Mme. Giry's Astounding Revelations as to Her -Personal Relations with the Opera Ghost - - -Before following the commissary into the manager's office I -must describe certain extraordinary occurrences that took place -in that office which Remy and Mercier had vainly tried to enter -and into which MM. Richard and Moncharmin had locked themselves -with an object which the reader does not yet know, but which it -is my duty, as an historian, to reveal without further postponement. - -I have had occasion to say that the managers' mood had undergone -a disagreeable change for some time past and to convey the fact -that this change was due not only to the fall of the chandelier -on the famous night of the gala performance. - -The reader must know that the ghost had calmly been paid his first -twenty thousand francs. Oh, there had been wailing and gnashing -of teeth, indeed! And yet the thing had happened as simply as could be. - -One morning, the managers found on their table an envelope -addressed to "Monsieur O. G. (private)" and accompanied by a note -from O. G. himself: - -The time has come to carry out the clause in the memorandum-book. -Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope, -seal it with your own seal and hand it to Mme. Giry, who will do -what is necessary. - -The managers did not hesitate; without wasting time in asking -how these confounded communications came to be delivered in an -office which they were careful to keep locked, they seized this -opportunity of laying hands, on the mysterious blackmailer. -And, after telling the whole story, under the promise of secrecy, -to Gabriel and Mercier, they put the twenty thousand francs into the -envelope and without asking for explanations, handed it to Mme. Giry, -who had been reinstated in her functions. The box-keeper displayed -no astonishment. I need hardly say that she was well watched. -She went straight to the ghost's box and placed the precious envelope -on the little shelf attached to the ledge. The two managers, -as well as Gabriel and Mercier, were hidden in such a way that -they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second during the -performance and even afterward, for, as the envelope had not moved, -those who watched it did not move either; and Mme. Giry went -away while the managers, Gabriel and Mercier were still there. -At last, they became tired of waiting and opened the envelope, -after ascertaining that the seals had not been broken. - -At first sight, Richard and Moncharmin thought that the notes were -still there; but soon they perceived that they were not the same. -The twenty real notes were gone and had been replaced by twenty notes, -of the "Bank of St. Farce"![2] - ----- -[2] Flash notes drawn on the "Bank of St. Farce" in France -correspond with those drawn on the "Bank of Engraving" in England.-- -Translator's Note. - -The managers' rage and fright were unmistakable. Moncharmin wanted -to send for the commissary of police, but Richard objected. -He no doubt had a plan, for he said: - -"Don't let us make ourselves ridiculous! All Paris would laugh at us. -O. G. has won the first game: we will win the second." - -He was thinking of the next month's allowance. - -Nevertheless, they had been so absolutely tricked that they were -bound to suffer a certain dejection. And, upon my word, it was not -difficult to understand. We must not forget that the managers had -an idea at the back of their minds, all the time, that this strange -incident might be an unpleasant practical joke on the part of their -predecessors and that it would not do to divulge it prematurely. -On the other hand, Moncharmin was sometimes troubled with a suspicion -of Richard himself, who occasionally took fanciful whims into -his head. And so they were content to await events, while keeping -an eye on Mother Giry. Richard would not have her spoken to. - -"If she is a confederate," he said, "the notes are gone long ago. -But, in my opinion, she is merely an idiot." - -"She's not the only idiot in this business," said Moncharmin pensively. - -"Well, who could have thought it?" moaned Richard. "But don't -be afraid...next time, I shall have taken my precautions." - -The next time fell on the same day that beheld the disappearance -of Christine Daae. In the morning, a note from the ghost reminded them -that the money was due. It read: - -Do just as you did last time. It went very well. Put the twenty -thousand in the envelope and hand it to our excellent Mme. Giry. - -And the note was accompanied by the usual envelope. They had only -to insert the notes. - -This was done about half an hour before the curtain rose on the -first act of Faust. Richard showed the envelope to Moncharmin. -Then he counted the twenty thousand-franc notes in front of him -and put the notes into the envelope, but without closing it. - -"And now," he said, "let's have Mother Giry in." - -The old woman was sent for. She entered with a sweeping courtesy. -She still wore her black taffeta dress, the color of which was rapidly -turning to rust and lilac, to say nothing of the dingy bonnet. -She seemed in a good temper. She at once said: - -"Good evening, gentlemen! It's for the envelope, I suppose?" - -"Yes, Mme. Giry," said Richard, most amiably. "For the envelope -... and something else besides." - -"At your service, M. Richard, at your service. And what is -the something else, please?" - -"First of all, Mme. Giry, I have a little question to put to you." - -"By all means, M. Richard: Mme. Giry is here to answer you." - -"Are you still on good terms with the ghost?" - -"Couldn't be better, sir; couldn't be better." - -"Ah, we are delighted....Look here, Mme. Giry," said Richard, -in the tone of making an important confidence. "We may just as well -tell you, among ourselves...you're no fool!" - -"Why, sir," exclaimed the box-keeper, stopping the pleasant nodding -of the black feathers in her dingy bonnet, "I assure you no one has -ever doubted that!" - -"We are quite agreed and we shall soon understand one another. -The story of the ghost is all humbug, isn't it?...Well, -still between ourselves,...it has lasted long enough." - -Mme. Giry looked at the managers as though they were talking Chinese. -She walked up to Richard's table and asked, rather anxiously: - -"What do you mean? I don't understand." - -"Oh, you, understand quite well. In any case, you've got to understand. -... And, first of all, tell us his name." - -"Whose name?" - -"The name of the man whose accomplice you are, Mme. Giry!" - -"I am the ghost's accomplice? I?...His accomplice in what, pray?" - -"You do all he wants." - -"Oh! He's not very troublesome, you know." - -"And does he still tip you?" - -"I mustn't complain." - -"How much does he give you for bringing him that envelope?" - -"Ten francs." - -MME. GIRY' - -"You poor thing! That's not much, is it? - -"Why?" - -"I'll tell you that presently, Mme. Giry. Just now we should like -to know for what extraordinary reason you have given yourself body -and soul, to this ghost...Mme. Giry's friendship and devotion -are not to be bought for five francs or ten francs." - -"That's true enough....And I can tell you the reason, sir. -There's no disgrace about it. .. on the contrary." - -"We're quite sure of that, Mme. Giry!" - -"Well, it's like this...only the ghost doesn't like me to talk -about his business." - -"Indeed?" sneered Richard. - -"But this is a matter that concerns myself alone....Well, -it was in Box Five one evening, I found a letter addressed to myself, -a sort of note written in red ink. I needn't read the letter to -you sir; I know it by heart, and I shall never forget it if I live -to be a hundred!" - -And Mme. Giry, drawing herself up, recited the letter with -touching eloquence: - -MADAM: - -1825. Mlle. Menetrier, leader of the ballet, became Marquise -de Cussy. - -1832. Mlle. Marie Taglioni, a dancer, became Comtesse Gilbert -des Voisins. - -1846. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain. - -1847. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King -Louis of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld. - -1848. Mlle. Maria, a dancer, became Baronne d'Herneville. - -1870. Theresa Hessier, a dancer, married Dom Fernando, brother to -the King of Portugal. - -Richard and Moncharmin listened to the old woman, who, as she -proceeded with the enumeration of these glorious nuptials, -swelled out, took courage and, at last, in a voice bursting -with pride, flung out the last sentence of the prophetic letter: - -1885. Meg Giry, Empress! - -Exhausted by this supreme effort, the box-keeper fell into -a chair, saying: - -"Gentlemen, the letter was signed, `Opera Ghost.' I had heard much -of the ghost, but only half believed in him. From the day when he -declared that my little Meg, the flesh of my flesh, the fruit -of my womb, would be empress, I believed in him altogether." - -And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry's -excited features to understand what could be got out of that fine -intellect with the two words "ghost" and "empress." - -But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? -That was the question. - -"You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he says?" -asked Moncharmin. - -"Yes. To begin with, I owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted -to be the leader of a row. I said to the ghost, `If she is to be empress -in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at once.' -He said, `Look upon it as done.' And he had only a word to say -to M. Poligny and the thing was done." - -"So you see that M. Poligny saw him!" - -"No, not any more than I did; but he heard him. The ghost said -a word in his ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, -looking so dreadfully pale." - -Moncharmin heaved a sigh. "What a business!" he groaned. - -"Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between -the ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny -to do M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of -the ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! -... But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. -"The only person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry. -... Mme. Giry, do you know what is in this envelope?" - -"Why, of course not," she said. - -"Well, look." - -Mine. Giry looked into the envelope with a lackluster eye, -which soon recovered its brilliancy. - -"Thousand-franc notes!" she cried. - -"Yes, Mme. Giry, thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" - -"I, sir? I?...I swear..." - -"Don't swear, Mme. Giry!...And now I will tell you the second -reason why I sent for you. Mme. Giry, I am going to have you arrested." - -The two black feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected -the attitude of two notes of interrogation, changed into two notes -of exclamation; as for the bonnet itself, it swayed in menace -on the old lady's tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, -protest and dismay were furthermore displayed by little Meg's mother -in a sort of extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, -half slide, that brought her right under the nose of M. Richard, -who could not help pushing back his chair. - -"HAVE ME ARRESTED!" - -The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth -that were left to it into Richard's face. - -M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. -His threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out -the keeper of Box Five to the absent magistrates. - -"I am going to have you arrested, Mme. Giry, as a thief!" - -"Say that again!" - -And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear, -before Mr. Manager Mencharmin had time to intervene. But it -was not the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on -the managerial ear, but the envelope itself, the cause of all the trouble, -the magic envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, -which escaped in a fantastic whirl of giant butterflies. - -The two managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both -go on their knees, feverishly, picking up and hurriedly examining -the precious scraps of paper. - -"Are they still genuine, Moncharmin?" - -"Are they still genuine, Richard?" - -"Yes, they are still genuine!" - -Above their heads, Mme. Giry's three teeth were clashing in a -noisy contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could -be dearly distinguished was this LEIT-MOTIF: - -"I, a thief!...I, a thief, I?" - -She choked with rage. She shouted: - -"I never heard of such a thing!" - -And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. - -"In any case," she yelped, "you, M. Richard, ought to know better -than I where the twenty thousand francs went to!" - -"I?" asked Richard, astounded. "And how should I know?" - -Moncharmin, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once insisted -that the good lady should explain herself. - -"What does this mean, Mme. Giry?" he asked. "And why do you say that -M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand -francs went to?" - -As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmin's eyes, -he took Mme. Giry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice -growling and rolling like thunder, he roared: - -"Why should I know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs -went to? Why? Answer me!" - -"Because they went into your pocket!" gasped the old woman, -looking at him as if he were the devil incarnate. - -Richard would have rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not -stayed his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently: - -"How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thousand -francs in his pocket?" - -"I never said that," declared Mme. Giry, "seeing that it was myself -who put the twenty-thousand francs into M. Richard's pocket." -And she added, under her voice, "There! It's out!...And may -the ghost forgive me!" - -Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmin authoritatively ordered -him to be silent. - -"Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me -question her." And he added: "It is really astonishing that you -should take up such a tone!...We are on the verge of clearing -up the whole mystery. And you're in a rage!...You're wrong -to behave like that. .. I'm enjoying myself immensely." - -Mme. Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face -beaming with faith in her own innocence. - -"You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope -which I put into M. Richard's pocket; but I tell you again that I -knew nothing about it... Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!" - -"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which -Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put -twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! -I am very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!" - -"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us -knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!" - -Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, -if Moncharmin had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. -He resumed his questions: - -"What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? -It was not the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box -Five before our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained -the twenty-thousand francs." - -"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave -me was the one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," -explained Mme. Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was -another envelope, just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand -and which I hid up my sleeve." - -So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared -and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs. -The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it -was fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. -They opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like -those which had so much astounded them the month before. - -"How simple!" said Richard. - -"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes -fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her. - -"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to -substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost -who told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?" - -"Yes, it was the ghost." - -"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? -Here is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing." - -"As you please, gentlemen." - -Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside -it and made for the door. She was on the point of going -out when the two managers rushed at her: - -"Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be `done' a second time! -Once bitten, twice shy!" - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse, -"you told me to act as though you knew nothing....Well, -if you knew nothing, I should go away with your envelope!" - -"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, -whom Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on -Mme. Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Mon-MME. GIRY' -charmin was prepared to go to any length to discover the truth. - -"I am to slip it into your pocket when you least expect it, sir. -You know that I always take a little turn behind the scenes, -in the course of the evening, and I often go with my daughter -to the ballet-foyer, which I am entitled to do, as her mother; -I bring her her shoes, when the ballet is about to begin...in fact, -I come and go as I please....The subscribers come and go too. -... So do you, sir....There are lots of people about... -I go behind you and slip the envelope into the tail-pocket of your -dress-coat....There's no witchcraft about that!" - -"No witchcraft!" growled Richard, rolling his eyes like Jupiter Tonans. -"No witchcraft! Why, I've just caught you in a lie, you old witch!" - -Mme. Giry bristled, with her three teeth sticking out of her mouth. - -"And why, may I ask?" - -"Because I spent that evening watching Box Five and the sham envelope -which you put there. I did not go to the ballet-foyer for a second." - -"No, sir, and I did not give you the envelope that evening, but at -the next performance...on the evening when the under-secretary -of state for fine arts..." - -At these words, M. Richard suddenly interrupted Mme. Giry: - -"Yes, that's true, I remember now! The under-secretary went behind -the scenes. He asked for me. I went down to the ballet-foyer -for a moment. I was on the foyer steps....The under-secretary -and his chief clerk were in the foyer itself. I suddenly turned -around...you had passed behind me, Mme. Giry... You seemed -to push against me....Oh, I can see you still, I can see you still!" - -"Yes, that's it, sir, that's it. I had just finished my little business. -That pocket of yours, sir, is very handy!" - -And Mme. Giry once more suited the action to the word, She passed -behind M. Richard and, so nimbly that Moncharmin himself was impressed -by it, slipped the envelope into the pocket of one of the tails -of M. Richard's dress-coat. - -"Of course!" exclaimed Richard, looking a little pale. "It's very -clever of O. G. The problem which he had to solve was this: -how to do away with any dangerous intermediary between the man -who gives the twenty-thousand francs and the man who receives it. -And by far the best thing he could hit upon was to come and take -the money from my pocket without my noticing it, as I myself did not -know that it was there. It's wonderful!" - -"Oh, wonderful, no doubt!" Moncharmin agreed. "Only, you forget, -Richard, that I provided ten-thousand francs of the twenty -and that nobody put anything in my pocket!" - - - -Chapter XVII The Safety-Pin Again - - -Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which he -now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, -at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all -Moncharmin's wishes, with the object of helping him to discover -the miscreant who was victimizing them. - -This brings us to the interval after the Garden Act, with the strange -conduct observed by M. Remy and those curious lapses from the dignity -that might be expected of the managers. It was arranged between -Richard and Moncharmin, first, that Richard should repeat the exact -movements which he had made on the night of the disappearance -of the first twenty-thousand francs; and, second, that Moncharmin -should not for an instant lose sight of Richard's coat-tail pocket, -into which Mme. Giry was to slip the twenty-thousand francs. - -M. Richard went and placed himself at the identical spot where he -had stood when he bowed to the under-secretary for fine arts. -M. Moncharmin took up his position a few steps behind him. - -Mme. Giry passed, rubbed up against M. Richard, got rid of her -twenty-thousand francs in the manager's coat-tail pocket -and disappeared....Or rather she was conjured away. -In accordance with the instructions received from Moncharmin a few -minutes earlier, Mercier took the good lady to the acting-manager's -office and turned the key on her, thus making it impossible -for her to communicate with her ghost. - -Meanwhile, M. Richard was bending and bowing and scraping and -walking backward, just as if he had that high and mighty minister, -the under-secretary for fine arts, before him. Only, though these -marks of politeness would have created no astonishment if the -under-secretary of state had really been in front of M. Richard, -they caused an easily comprehensible amazement to the spectators -of this very natural but quite inexplicable scene when M. Richard -had no body in front of him. - -M. Richard bowed...to nobody; bent his back...before nobody; -and walked backward...before nobody....And, a few steps -behind him, M. Moncharmin did the same thing that he was doing -in addition to pushing away M. Remy and begging M. de La Borderie, -the ambassador, and the manager of the Credit Central "not to touch -M. le Directeur." - -Moncharmin, who had his own ideas, did not want Richard to come -to him presently, when the twenty-thousand francs were gone, -and say: - -"Perhaps it was the ambassador...or the manager of the Credit -Central...or Remy." - -The more so as, at the time of the first scene, -as Richard himself admitted, Richard had met nobody -in that part of the theater after Mme. Giry had brushed up against him. ... - -Having begun by walking backward in order to bow, Richard continued -to do so from prudence, until he reached the passage leading -to the offices of the management. In this way, he was constantly -watched by Moncharmin from behind and himself kept an eye on any -one approaching from the front. Once more, this novel method -of walking behind the scenes, adopted by the managers of our -National Academy of Music, attracted attention; but the managers -themselves thought of nothing but their twenty-thousand francs. - -On reaching the half-dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin, -in a low voice: - -"I am sure that nobody has touched me....You had now better -keep at some distance from me and watch me till I come to door -of the office: it is better not to arouse suspicion and we can -see anything that happens." - -But Moncharmin replied. "No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I'll -walk immediately behind you! I won't leave you by a step!" - -"But, in that case," exclaimed Richard, "they will never steal -our twenty-thousand francs!" - -"I should hope not, indeed!" declared Moncharmin. - -"Then what we are doing is absurd!" - -"We are doing exactly what we did last time....Last time, -I joined you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind -you down this passage." - -"That's true!" sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively -obeying Moncharmin. - -Two minutes later, the joint managers locked themselves into -their office. Moncharmin himself put the key in his pocket: - -"We remained locked up like this, last time," he said, "until you -left the Opera to go home." - -"That's so. No one came and disturbed us, I suppose?" - -"No one." - -"Then," said Richard, who was trying to collect his memory, "then I -must certainly have been robbed on my way home from the Opera." - -"No," said Moncharmin in a drier tone than ever, "no, that's impossible. -For I dropped you in my cab. The twenty-thousand francs disappeared -at your place: there's not a shadow of a doubt about that." - -"It's incredible!" protested Richard. "I am sure of my servants... -and if one of them had done it, he would have disappeared since." - -Moncharmin shrugged his shoulders, as though to say that he -did not wish to enter into details, and Richard began to think -that Moncharmin was treating him in a very insupportable fashion. - -"Moncharmin, I've had enough of this!" - -"Richard, I've had too much of it!" - -"Do you dare to suspect me?" - -"Yes, of a silly joke." - -"One doesn't joke with twenty-thousand francs." - -"That's what I think," declared Mohcharmin, unfolding a newspaper -and ostentatiously studying its contents. - -"What are you doing?" asked Richard. "Are you going to read -the paper next?" - -"Yes, Richard, until I take you home." - -"Like last time?" - -"Yes, like last time." - -Richard snatched the paper from Moncharmint's hands. -Moncharmin stood up, more irritated than ever, and found himself -faced by an exasperated Richard, who, crossing his arms on his chest, said: - -"Look here, I'm thinking of this, I'M THINKING OF WHAT I MIGHT -THINK if, like last time, after my spending the evening alone -with you, you brought me home and if, at the moment of parting, -I perceived that twenty-thousand francs had disappeared from my -coat-pocket...like last time." - -"And what might you think?" asked Moncharmin, crimson with rage. - -"I might think that, as you hadn't left me by a foot's breadth -and as, by your own wish, you were the only one to approach me, -like last time, I might think that, if that twenty-thousand francs -was no longer in my pocket, it stood a very good chance of being -in yours!" - -Moticharmin leaped up at the suggestion. - -"Oh!" he shouted. "A safety-pin!" - -"What do you want a safety-pin for?" - -"To fasten you up with!...A safety-pin!...A safety-pin!" - -"You want to fasten me with a safety-pin?" - -"Yes, to fasten you to the twenty-thousand francs! Then, whether -it's here, or on the drive from here to your place, or at your place, -you will feel the hand that pulls at your pocket and you will -see if it's mine! Oh, so you're suspecting me now, are you? -A safety-pin!" - -And that was the moment when Moncharmin opened the door -on the passage and shouted: - -"A safety-pin!...somebody give me a safety-pin!" - -And we also know how, at the same moment, Remy, who had no safety-pin, -was received by Moncharmin, while a boy procured the pin so eagerly -longed for. And what happened was this: Moncharmin first locked -the door again. Then he knelt down behind Richard's back. - -"I hope," he said, "that the notes are still there?" - -"So do I," said Richard. - -"The real ones?" asked Moncharmin, resolved not to be "had" this time. - -"Look for yourself," said Richard. "I refuse to touch them." - -Moncharmin took the envelope from Richard's pocket and drew -out the bank-notes with a trembling hand, for, this time, -in order frequently to make sure of the presence of the notes, -he had not sealed the envelope nor even fastened it. He felt -reassured on finding that they were all there and quite genuine. -He put them back in the tail-pocket and pinned them with great care. -Then he sat down behind Richard's coat-tails and kept his eyes -fixed on them, while Richard, sitting at his writing-table, did -not stir. - -"A little patience, Richard," said Moncharmin. "We have only -a few minutes to wait....The clock will soon strike twelve. -Last time, we left at the last stroke of twelve." - -"Oh, I shall have all the patience necessary!" - -The time passed, slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling. Richard tried -to laugh. - -"I shall end by believing in the omnipotence of the ghost," he said. -"Just now, don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, -alarming in the atmosphere of this room?" - -"You're quite right," said Moncharmin, who was really impressed. - -"The ghost!" continued Richard, in a low voice, as though fearing lest -he should be overheard by invisible ears. "The ghost! Suppose, all -the same, it were a ghost who puts the magic envelopes on the table -... who talks in Box Five...who killed Joseph Buquet... -who unhooked the chandelier...and who robs us! For, after all, -after all, after all, there is no one here except you a nd me, -and, if the notes disappear and neither you nor I have anything to -do with it, well, we shall have to believe in the ghost...in the ghost." - -At that moment, the clock on the mantlepiece gave its warning click -and the first stroke of twelve struck. - -The two managers shuddered. The perspiration streamed from -their foreheads. The twelfth stroke sounded strangely in their ears. - -When the clock stopped, they gave a sigh and rose from their chairs. - -"I think we can go now," said Moncharmin. - -"I think so," Richard a agreed. - -"Before we go, do you mind if I look in your pocket - -"But, of course, Moncharmin, YOU MUST!...Well?" he asked, -as Moncharmin was feeling at the pocket. - -"Well, I can feel the pin." - -"Of course, as you said, we can't be robbed without noticing it." - -But Moncharmin, whose hands were still fumbling, bellowed: - -"I can feel the pin, but I can't feel the notes!" - -"Come, no joking, Moncharmin!...This isn't the time for it." - -"Well, feel for yourseIf." - -Richard tore off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket -inside out. THE POCKET WAS EMPTY. And the curious thing was -that the pin remained, stuck in the same place. - -Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt -about the witchcraft. - -"The ghost!" muttered Moncharmin. - -But Richard suddenly sprang upon his partner. - -"No one but you has touched my pocket! Give me back my twenty-thousand -francs!...Give me back my twenty-thousand francs!..." - -"On my soul," sighed Moncharmin, who was ready to swoon, "on my soul, -I swear that I haven't got it!" - -Then somebody knocked at the door. Moncharmin opened it automatically, -seemed hardly to recognize Mercier, his business-manager, exchanged -a few words with him, without knowing what he was saying and, -with an unconscious movement, put the safety-pin, for which he -had no further use, into the hands of his bewildered subordinate.... - - - -Chapter XVIII The COmmissary, The Viscount and the Persian - - -The first words of the commissary of police, on entering -the managers' office, were to ask after the missing prima donna. - -"Is Christine Daae here?" - -"Christine Daae here?" echoed Richard. "No. Why?" - -As for Moncharmin, he had not the strength left to utter a word. - -Richard repeated, for the commissary and the compact crowd which -had followed him into the office observed an impressive silence. - -"Why do you ask if Christine Daae is here, M. LE COMMISSAIRE?" - -"Because she has to be found,", declared the commissary of police solemnly. - -"What do you mean, she has to be found? Has she disappeared?" - -"In the middle of the performance!" - -"In the middle of the performance? This is extraordinary!" - -"Isn't it? And what is quite as extraordinary is that you should -first learn it from me!" - -"Yes," said Richard, taking his head in his hands and muttering. -"What is this new business? Oh, it's enough to make a man send in -his resignation!" - -And he pulled a few hairs out of his mustache without even knowing -what he was doing. - -"So she...so she disappeared in the middle of the performance?" -he repeated. - -"Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act, at the moment when she -was invoking the aid of the angels; but I doubt if she was carried -off by an angel." - -"And I am sure that she was!" - -Everybody looked round. A young man, pale and trembling -with excitement, repeated: - -"I am sure of it!" - -"Sure of what?" asked Mifroid. - -"That Christine Daae' was carried off by an angel, M. LE COMMISSAIRE -and I can tell you his name." - -"Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae -was carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?" - -"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you -where he lives...when we are alone." - -"You are right, monsieur." - -And the commissary of police, inviting Raoul to take a chair, -cleared the room of all the rest, excepting the managers. - -Then Raoul spoke: - -"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera -and he is the Angel of Music!" - -"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious!...The -Angel of Music!" And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, -"Have you an Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?" - -Richard and Moncharmin shook their heads, without even speaking. - -"Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera ghost. -Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the Angel -of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik." - -M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively. - -"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun -of the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?" - -"I say that these gentlemen have heard of him." - -"Gentlemen, it appears that you know the Opera ghost?" - -Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand. - -"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did, -for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!" - -And Richard turned a terrible look on Moncharmin, which seemed -to say: - -"Give me back the twenty-thousand francs, or I'll tell the whole story." - -Moncharmin understood what he meant, for, with a distracted gesture, -he said: - -"Oh, tell everything and have done with it!" - -As for Mifroid, he looked at the managers and at Raoul by turns -and wondered whether he had strayed into a lunatic asylum. -He passed his hand through his hair. - -"A ghost," he said, "who, on the same evening, carries off -an opera-singer and steals twenty-thousand francs is a ghost who -must have his hands very full! If you don't mind, we will take -the questions in order. The singer first, the twenty-thousand -francs after. Come, M. de Chagny, let us try to talk seriously. -You believe that Mlle. Christine Daae has been carried off by an -individual called Erik. Do you know this person? Have you seen him?" - -"Yes." - -"Where?" - -"In a church yard." - -M. Mifroid gave a start, began to scrutinize Raoul again and said: - -"Of course!...That's where ghosts usually hang out!...And -what were you doing in that churchyard?" - -"Monsieur," said Raoul, "I can quite understand how absurd my replies -must seem to you. But I beg you to believe that I am in full -possession of my faculties. The safety of the person dearest -to me in the world is at stake. I should like to convince you -in a few words, for time is pressing and ever minute is valuable. -Unfortunately, if I do not tell you the strangest story that ever -was from the beginning, you will not believe me. I will tell you all -I know about the Opera ghost, M. Commissary. Alas, I do not know much!..." - -"Never mind, go on, go on!" exclaimed Richard and Moncharmin, -suddenly greatly interested. - -Unfortunately for their hopes of learning some detail that could put -them on the track of their hoaxer, they were soon compelled to accept -the fact that M. Raoul de Chagny had completely lost his head. -All that story about Perros-Guirec, death's heads and enchanted violins, -could only have taken birth in the disordered brain of a youth -mad with love. It was evident, also, that Mr. Commissary Mifroid -shared their view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut -short the incoherent narrative if circumstances had not taken -it upon themselves to interrupt it. - -The door opened and a man entered, curiously dressed in an enormous -frock-coat and a tall hat, at once shabby and shiny, that came down to -his ears. He went up to the commissary and spoke to him in a whisper. -It was doubtless a detective come to deliver an important communication. - -During this conversation, M. Mifroid did not take his eyes off Raoul. -At last, addressing him, he said: - -"Monsieur, we have talked enough about the ghost. We will -now talk about yourself a little, if you have no objection: -you were to carry off Mlle. Christine Daae to-night?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"After the performance?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"All your arrangements were made?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"The carriage that brought you was to take you both away. -... There were fresh horses in readiness at every stage. -..." - -"That is true, M. le Commissaire." - -"And nevertheless your carriage is still outside the Rotunda -awaiting your orders, is it not?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"Did you know that there were three other carriages there, -in addition to yours?" - -"I did not pay the least attention." - -"They were the carriages of Mlle. Sorelli, which could not find room -in the Cour de I'Administration; of Carlotta; and of your brother, -M. le Comte de Chagny. ..." - -"Very likely. ..." - -"What is certain is that, though your carriage and Sorelli's -and Carlotta's are still there, by the Rotunda pavement, M. le -Comte de Chagny's carriage is gone." - -"This has nothing to say to..." - -"I beg your pardon. Was not M. le Comte opposed to your marriage -with Mlle. Daae?" - -"That is a matter that only concerns the family." - -"You have answered my question: he was opposed to it...and that -was why you were carrying Christine Daae out of your brother's reach. -... Well, M. de Chagny, allow me to inform you that your brother has -been smarter than you! It is he who has carried off Christine Daae!" - -"Oh, impossible!" moaned Raoul, pressing his hand to his heart. -"Are you sure?" - -"Immediately after the artist's disappearance, which was procured -by means which we have still to ascertain, he flung into his carriage, -which drove right across Paris at a furious pace." - -"Across Paris?" asked poor Raoul, in a hoarse voice. "What do you -mean by across Paris?" - -"Across Paris and out of Paris...by the Brussels road." - -"Oh," cried the young man, "I shall catch them!" And he rushed -out of the office. - -"And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily...."Ah, -that's a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!" - -And, turning to his audience, M. Mifroid delivered a little lecture -on police methods. - -"I don't know for a moment whether M. le Comte de Chagny has really -carried Christine Daae off or not...but I want to know and I -believe that, at this moment, no one is more anxious to inform us -than his brother....And now he is flying in pursuit of him! -He is my chief auxiliary! This, gentlemen, is the art of the police, -which is believed to be so complicated and which, nevertheless appears -so simple as soon its you see that it consists in getting your work -done by people who have nothing to do with the police." - -But M. le Commissaire de Police Mifroid would not have been quite -so satisfied with himself if he had known that the rush of his rapid -emissary was stopped at the entrance to the very first corridor. -A tall figure blocked Raoul's way. - -"Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice. - -Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap -of an hour ago. He stopped: - -"It's you!" he cried, in a feverish voice. "You, who know Erik's -secrets and don't want me to speak of them. Who are you?" - -"You know who I am!...I am the Persian!" - - - -Chapter XIX The Viscount and the Persian - - -Raoul now remembered that his brother had once shown him that -mysterious person, of whom nothing was known except that he was a Persian -and that he lived in a little old-fashioned flat in the Rue de Rivoli. - -The man with the ebony skin, the eyes of jade and the astrakhan -cap bent over Raoul. - -"I hope, M. de Chagny," he said, "that you have not betrayed -Erik's secret?" - -"And why should I hesitate to betray that monster, sir?" -Raoul rejoined haughtily, trying to shake off the intruder. -"Is he your friend, by any chance?" - -"I hope that you said, nothing about Erik, sir, because Erik's -secret is also Christine Daae's and to talk about one is to talk -about the other!" - -"Oh, sir," said Raoul, becoming more and more impatient, "you seem -to know about many things that interest me; and yet I have no time -to listen to you!" - -"Once more, M. de Chagny, where are you going so fast?" - -"Can not you guess? To Christine Daae's assistance. ..." - -"Then, sir, stay here, for Christine Daae is here!" - -"With Erik?" - -"With Erik." - -"How do you know?" - -"I was at the performance and no one in the world but Erik could -contrive an abduction like that!...Oh," he said, with a deep sigh, -"I recognized the monster's touch!..." - -"You know him then?" - -The Persian did not reply, but heaved a fresh sigh. - -"Sir," said Raoul, "I do not know what your intentions are, but can -you do anything to help me? I mean, to help Christine Daae?" - -"I think so, M. de Chagny, and that is why I spoke to you." - -"What can you do?" - -"Try to take you to her...and to him." - -"If you can do me that service, sir, my life is yours!...One -word more: the commissary of police tells me that Christine Daae -has been carried off by my brother, Count Philippe." - -"Oh, M. de Chagny, I don't believe a word of it." - -"It's not possible, is it?" - -"I don't know if it is possible or not; but there are ways and -ways of carrying people off; and M. le Comte Philippe has never, -as far as I know, had anything to do with witchcraft." - -"Your arguments are convincing, sir, and I am a fool!...Oh, -let us make haste! I place myself entirely in your hands!... -How should I not believe you, when you are the only one to believe -me...when you are the only one not to smile when Erik's name -is mentioned?" - -And the young man impetuously seized the Persian's hands. -They were ice-cold. - -"Silence!" said the Persian, stopping and listening to the distant -sounds of the theater. "We must not mention that name here. -Let us say `he' and `him;' then there will be less danger of attracting -his attention." - -"Do you think he is near us?" - -"It is quite possible, Sir, if he is not, at this moment, -with his victim, IN THE HOUSE ON THE LAKE." - -"Ah, so you know that house too?" - -"If he is not there, he may be here, in this wall, in this floor, -in this ceiling!...Come!" - -And the Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of his footsteps, -led him down passages which Raoul had never seen before, even at the -time when Christine used to take him for walks through that labyrinth. - -"If only Darius has come!" said the Persian. - -"Who is Darius?" - -"Darius? My servant." - -They were now in the center of a real deserted square, an immense -apartment ill-lit by a small lamp. The Persian stopped Raoul and, -in the softest of whispers, asked: - -"What did you say to the commissary?" - -"I said that Christine Daae's abductor was the Angel of Music, -ALIAS the Opera ghost, and that the real name was..." - -"Hush!...And did he believe you?" - -"No." - -"He attached no importance to what you said?" - -"No." - -"He took you for a bit of a madman?" - -"Yes." - -"So much the better!" sighed the Persian. - -And they continued their road. After going up and down several -staircases which Raoul had never seen before, the two men -found themselves in front of a door which the Persian opened -with a master-key. The Persian and Raoul were both, of course, -in dress-clothes; but, whereas Raoul had a tall hat, the Persian -wore the astrakhan cap which I have already mentioned. It was -an infringement of the rule which insists upon the tall hat behind -the scenes; but in France foreigners are allowed every license: -the Englishman his traveling-cap, the Persian his cap of astrakhan. - -"Sir," said the Persian, "your tall hat will be in your way: -you would do well to leave it in the dressing-room." - -"What dressing-room?" asked Raoul. - -"Christine Daae's." - -And the Persian, letting Raoul through the door which he -had just opened, showed him the actress' room opposite. -They were at the end of the passage the whole length of which Raoul -had been accustomed to traverse before knocking at Christine's door. - -"How well you know the Opera, sir!" - -"Not so well as `he' does!" said the Persian modestly. - -And he pushed the young man into Christine's dressing-room, -which was as Raoul had left it a few minutes earlier. - -Closing the door, the Persian went to a very thin partition that -separated the dressing-room from a big lumber-room next to it. -He listened and then coughed loudly. - -There was a sound of some one stirring in the lumber-room; and, a few -seconds later, a finger tapped at the door. - -"Come in," said the Persian. - -A man entered, also wearing an astrakhan cap and dressed in a long -overcoat. He bowed and took a richly carved case from under his coat, -put it on the dressing-table, bowed once again and went to the door. - -"Did no one see you come in, Darius?" - -"No, master." - -"Let no one see you go out." - -The servant glanced down the passage and swiftly disappeared. - -The Persian opened the case. It contained a pair of long pistols. - -"When Christine Daae was carried off, sir, I sent word to my servant -to bring me these pistols. I have had them a long time and they -can be relied upon." - -"Do you mean to fight a duel?" asked the young man. - -"It will certainly be a duel which we shall have to fight," -said the other, examining the priming of his pistols. "And what a duel!" -Handing one of the pistols to Raoul, he added, "In this duel, -we shall be two to one; but you must be prepared for everything, -for we shall be fighting the most terrible adversary that you -can imagine. But you love Christine Daae, do you not?" - -"I worship the ground she stands on! But you, sir, who do not -love her, tell me why I find you ready to risk your life for her! -You must certainly hate Erik!" - -"No, sir," said the Persian sadly, "I do not hate him. If I hated him, -he would long ago have ceased doing harm." - -"Has he done you harm?" - -"I have forgiven him the harm which he has done me." - -"I do not understand you. You treat him as a monster, you speak -of his crime, he has done you harm and I find in you the same -inexplicable pity that drove me to despair when I saw it in Christine!" - -The Persian did not reply. He fetched a stool and set it -against the wall facing the great mirror that filled the whole -of the wall-space opposite. Then he climbed on the stool and, -with his nose to the wallpaper, seemed to be looking for something. - -"Ah," he said, after a long search, "I have it!" And, raising his -finger above his head, he pressed against a corner in the pattern -of the paper. Then he turned round and jumped off the stool: - -"In half a minute," he said, "he shall be ON HIS ROAD!" and crossing -the whole of the dressing-room he felt the great mirror. - -"No, it is not yielding yet," he muttered. - -"Oh, are we going out by the mirror?" asked Raoul. "Like Christine Daae." - -"So you knew that Christine Daae went out by that mirror?" - -"She did so before my eyes, sir! I was hidden behind the curtain -of the inner room and I saw her vanish not by the glass, but in -the glass!" - -"And what did you do?" - -"I thought it was an aberration of my senses, a mad dream. - -"Or some new fancy of the ghost's!" chuckled the Persian. -"Ah, M. de Chagny," he continued, still with his hand on the mirror, -"would that we had to do with a ghost! We could then leave our pistols -in their case....Put down your hat, please...there... -and now cover your shirt-front as much as you can with your coat... -as I am doing....Bring the lapels forward...turn up -the collar....We must make ourselves as invisible as possible." - -Bearing against the mirror, after a short silence, he said: - -"It takes some time to release the counterbalance, when you press -on the spring from the inside of the room. It is different when you -are behind the wall and can act directly on the counterbalance. -Then the mirror turns at once and is moved with incredible rapidity." - -"What counterbalance?" asked Raoul. - -"Why, the counterbalance that lifts the whole of this wall on -to its pivot. You surely don't expect it to move of itself, -by enchantment! If you watch, you will see the mirror first rise -an inch or two and then shift an inch or two from left to right. -It will then be on a pivot and will swing round." - -"It's not turning!" said Raoul impatiently. - -"Oh, wait! You have time enough to be impatient, sir! The mechanism -has obviously become rusty, or else the spring isn't working. -...Unless it is something else," added the Persian, anxiously. - -"What?" - -"He may simply have cut the cord of the counterbalance and blocked -the whole apparatus." - -"Why should he? He does not know that we are coming this way!" - -"I dare say he suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system." - -"It's not turning!...And Christine, sir, Christine?" - -The Persian said coldly: - -"We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do!...But -he may stop us at the first step!...He commands the walls, -the doors and the trapdoors. In my country, he was known by a name -which means the `trap-door lover.'" - -"But why do these walls obey him alone? He did not build them!" - -"Yes, sir, that is just what he did!" - -Raoul looked at him in amazement; but the Persian made a sign to him -to be silent and pointed to the glass....There was a sort -of shivering reflection. Their image was troubled as in a rippling -sheet of water and then all became stationary again. - -"You see, sir, that it is not turning! Let us take another road!" - -"To-night, there is no other!" declared the Persian, in a singularly -mournful voice. "And now, look out! And be ready to fire." - -He himself raised his pistol opposite the glass. Raoul imitated -his movement. With his free arm, the Persian drew the young man -to his chest and, suddenly, the mirror turned, in a blinding daze -of cross-lights: it turned like one of those revolving doors -which have lately been fixed to the entrances of most restaurants, -it turned, carrying Raoul and the Persian with it and suddenly -hurling them from the full light into the deepest darkness. - - - -Chapter XX In the Cellars of the Opera - - -"Your hand high, ready to fire!" repeated Raoul's companion quickly. - -The wall, behind them, having completed the circle which it -described upon itself, closed again; and the two men stood -motionless for a moment, holding their breath. - -At last, the Persian decided to make a movement; and Raoul heard -him slip on his knees and feel for something in the dark with his -groping hands. Suddenly, the darkness was made visible by a small dark -lantern and Raoul instinctively stepped backward as though to escape -the scrutiny of a secret enemy. But he soon perceived that the light -belonged to the Persian, whose movements he was closely observing. -The little red disk was turned in every direction and Raoul -saw that the floor, the walls and the ceiling were all formed -of planking. It must have been the ordinary road taken by Erik -to reach Christine's dressing-room and impose upon her innocence. -And Raoul, remembering the Persian's remark, thought that it had been -mysteriously constructed by the ghost himself. Later, he learned -that Erik had found, all prepared for him, a secret passage, -long known to himself alone and contrived at the time of the Paris -Commune to allow the jailers to convey their prisoners straight -to the dungeons that had been constructed for them in the cellars; -for the Federates had occupied the opera-house immediately after -the eighteenth of March and had made a starting-place right at -the top for their Mongolfier balloons, which carried their incendiary -proclamations to the departmcnts, and a state prison right at the bottom. - -The Persian went on his knees and put his lantern on the ground. -He seemed to be working at the floor; and suddenly he turned off -his light. Then Raoul heard a faint click and saw a very pale -luminous square in the floor of the passage. It was as though -a window had opened on the Opera cellars, which were still lit. -Raoul no longer saw the Persian, but he suddenly felt him by his side -and heard him whisper: - -"Follow me and do all that I do." - -Raoul turned to the luminous aperture. Then he saw the Persian, -who was still on his knees, hang by his hands from the rim of the opening, -with his pistol between his teeth, and slide into the cellar below. - -Curiously enough, the viscount had absolute confidence in the Persian, -though he knew nothing about him. His emotion when speaking of the -"monster" struck him as sincere; and, if the Persian had cherished -any sinister designs against him, he would not have armed him with -his own hands. Besides, Raoul must reach Christine at all costs. -He therefore went on his knees also and hung from the trap with both hands. - -"Let go!" said a voice. - -And he dropped into the arms of the Persian, who told him to lie -down flat, closed the trap-door above him and crouched down beside him. -Raoul tried to ask a question, but the Persian's hand was on his mouth -and he heard a voice which he recognized as that of the commissary -of police. - -Raoul and the Persian were completely hidden behind a wooden partition. -Near them, a small staircase led to a little room in which the -commissary appeared to be walking up and down, asking questions. -The faint light was just enough to enable Raoul to distinguish the -shape of things around him. And he could not restrain a dull cry: -there were three corpses there. - -The first lay on the narrow landing of the little staircase; -the two others had rolled to the bottom of the staircase. -Raoul could have touched one of the two poor wretches by passing -his fingers through the partition. - -"Silence!" whispered the Persian. - -He too had seen the bodies and he gave one word in explanation: - -"HE!" - -The commissary's voice was now heard more distinctly. -He was asking for information about the system of lighting, -which the stage-manager supplied. The commissary therefore -must be in the "organ" or its immediate neighborhood. - -Contrary to what one might think, especially in connection with an -opera-house, the "organ" is not a musical instrument. At that time, -electricity was employed only for a very few scenic effects and for -the bells. The immense building and the stage itself were still -lit by gas; hydrogen was used to regulate and modify the lighting -of a scene; and this was done by means of a special apparatus which, -because of the multiplicity of its pipes, was known as the "organ." -A box beside the prompter's box was reserved for the chief gas-man, -who from there gave his orders to his assistants and saw that they -were executed. Mauclair stayed in this box during all the performances. - -But now Mauclair was not in his box and his assistants not -in their places. - -"Mauclair! Mauclair!" - -The stage-manager's voice echoed through the cellars. But Mauclair -did not reply. - -I have said that a door opened on a little staircase that led -to the second cellar. The commissary pushed it, but it resisted. - -"I say," he said to the stage-manager, "I can't open this door: -is it always so difficult?" - -The stage-manager forced it open with his shoulder. He saw that, -at the same time, he was pushing a human body and he could not keep -back an exclamation, for he recognized the body at once: - -"Mauclair! Poor devil! He is dead!" - -But Mr. Commissary Mifroid, whom nothing surprised, was stooping -over that big body. - -"No," he said, "he is dead-drunk, which is not quite the same thing." - -"It's the first time, if so," said the stage-manager - -"Then some one has given him a narcotic. That is quite possible." - -Mifroid went down a few steps and said: - -"Look!" - -By the light of a little red lantern, at the foot of the stairs, -they saw two other bodies. The stage-manager recognized Mauclair's -assistants. Mifroid went down and listened to their breathing. - -"They are sound asleep," he said. "Very curious business! -Some person unknown must have interfered with the gas-man and his -staff...and that person unknown was obviously working on behalf -of the kidnapper....But what a funny idea to kidnap a performer -on the stage!...Send for the doctor of the theater, please." -And Mifroid repeated, "Curious, decidedly curious business!" - -Then he turned to the little room, addressing the people whom Raoul -and the Persian were unable to see from where they lay. - -"What do you say to all this, gentlemen? You are the only ones -who have not given your views. And yet you must have an opinion -of some sort." - -Thereupon, Raoul and the Persian saw the startled faces of the joint -managers appear above the landing--and they heard Moncharmin's -excited voice: - -"There are things happening here, Mr. Commissary, which we are -unable to explain." - -And the two faces disappeared. - -"Thank you for the information, gentlemen," said Mifroid, with a jeer. - -But the stage-manager, holding his chin in the hollow of his -right hand, which is the attitude of profound thought, said: - -"It is not the first time that Mauclair has fallen asleep in the theater. -I remember finding him, one evening, snoring in his little recess, -with his snuff-box beside him." - -"Is that long ago?" asked M. Mifroid, carefully wiping his eye-glasses. - -"No, not so very long ago....Wait a bit!...It was the night -... of course, yes...It was the night when Carlotta--you know, -Mr. Commissary--gave her famous `co-ack'!" - -"Really? The night when Carlotta gave her famous `co-ack'?" - -And M. Mifroid, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose, -fixed the stage-manager with a contemplative stare. - -"So Mauclair takes snuff, does he?" he asked carelessly. - -"`Yes, Mr. Commissary....Look, there is his snuff-box -on that little shelf....Oh! he's a great snuff-taker!" - -"So am I," said Mifroid and put the snuff-box in his pocket. - -Raoul and the Persian, themselves unobserved, watched the removal -of the three bodies by a number of scene-shifters, who were -followed by the commissary and all the people with him. -Their steps Were heard for a few minutes on the stage above. -When they were alone the Persian made a sign to Raoul to stand up. -Raoul did so; but, as he did not lift his hand in front of his eyes, -ready to fire, the Persian told him to resume that attitude and to -continue it, whatever happened. - -"But it tires the hand unnecessarily," whispered Raoul. "If I -do fire, I shan't be sure of my aim." - -"Then shift your pistol to the other hand," said the Persian. - -"I can't shoot with my left hand." - -Thereupon, the Persian made this queer reply, which was certainly -not calculated to throw light into the young man's flurried brain: - -"It's not a question of shooting with the right hand or the left; -it's a question of holding one of your hands as though you -were going to pull the trigger of a pistol with your arm bent. -As for the pistol itself, when all is said, you can put that in -your pocket!" And he added, "Let this be clearly understood, -or I will answer for nothing. It is a matter of life and death. -And now, silence and follow me!" - -The cellars of the Opera are enormous and they are five in number. -Raoul followed the Persian and wondered what he would have done -without his companion in that extraordinary labyrinth. They went -down to the third cellar; and their progress was still lit by some -distant lamp. - -The lower they went, the more precautions the Persian seemed to take. -He kept on turning to Raoul to see if he was holding his arm properly, -showing him how he himself carried his hand as if always ready to fire, -though the pistol was in his pocket. - -Suddenly, a loud voice made them stop. Some one above them shouted: - -"All the door-shutters on the stage! The commissary of police -wants them!" - -Steps were heard and shadows glided through the darkness. The Persian -drew Raoul behind a set piece. They saw passing before and above -them old men bent by age and the past burden of opera-scenery. -Some could hardly drag themselves along; others, from habit, -with stooping bodies and outstretched hands, looked for doors to shut. - -They were the door-shutters, the old, worn-out scene-shifters, on -whom a charitable management had taken pity, giving them the job -of shutting doors above and below the stage. They went about -incessantly, from top to bottom of the building, shutting the doors; -and they were also called "The draft-expellers," at least at -that time, for I have little doubt that by now they are all dead. -Drafts are very bad for the voice, wherever they may come from.[3] - ----- -[3] M. Pedro Gailhard has himself told me that he created a few -additional posts as door-shutters for old stage-carpenters whom -he was unwilling to dismiss from the service of the Opera. -The two men might have stumbled over them, waking them up and -provoking a request for explanations. For the moment, M. Mifroid's -inquiry saved them from any such unpleasant encounters. - -The Persian and Raoul welcomed this incident, which relieved them -of inconvenient witnesses, for some of those door-shutters, having -nothing else to do or nowhere to lay their heads, stayed at the Opera, -from idleness or necessity, and spent the night there. - -But they were not left to enjoy their solitude for long. Other shades -now came down by the same way by which the door-shutters had gone up. -Each of these shades carried a little lantern and moved it about, -above, below and all around, as though looking for something or somebody. - -"Hang it!" muttered the Persian. "I don't know what they are -looking for, but they might easily find us....Let us get away, -quick!...Your hand up, sir, ready to fire!...Bend your arm -... more...that's it!...Hand at the level of your eye, -as though you were fighting a duel and waiting for the word -to fire! Oh, leave your pistol in your pocket. Quick, come along, -down-stairs. Level of your eye! Question of life or death!... -Here, this way, these stairs!" They reached the fifth cellar. -"Oh, what a duel, sir, what a duel!" - -Once in the fifth cellar, the Persian drew breath. He seemed -to enjoy a rather greater sense of security than he had displayed -when they both stopped in the third; but he never altered the attitude -of his hand. And Raoul, remembering the Persian's observation--"I -know these pistols can be relied upon"--was more and more astonished, -wondering why any one should be so gratified at being able to rely -upon a pistol which he did not intend to use! - -But the Persian left him no time for reflection. Telling Raoul -to stay where he was, he ran up a few steps of the staircase -which they had just left and then returned. - -"How stupid of us!" he whispered. "We shall soon have seen the end -of those men with their lanterns. It is the firemen going their -rounds."[4] - ----- -[4] In those days, it was still part of the firemen's duty to watch -over the safety of the Opera house outside the performances; -but this service has since been suppressed. I asked M. Pedro -Gailhard the reason, and he replied: - -The two men waited five minutes longer. Then the Persian took Raoul -up the stairs again; but suddenly he stopped him with a gesture. -Something moved in the darkness before them. - -"Flat on your stomach!" whispered the Persian. - -The two men lay flat on the floor. - -They were only just in time. A shade, this time. carrying no light, -just a shade in the shade, passed. It passed close to them, -near enough to touch them. - -They felt the warmth of its cloak upon them. For they could -distinguish the shade sufficiently to see that it wore a cloak which -shrouded it from head to foot. On its head it had a soft felt hat.... - -It moved away, drawing its feet against the walls and sometimes -giving a kick into a corner. - -"Whew!" said the Persian. "We've had a narrow escape; that shade -knows me and has twice taken me to the managers' office." - -"It was because the management was afraid that, in their utter -inexperience of the cellars of the Opera, the firemen might set -fire to the building!" - -"Is it some one belonging to the theater police?" asked Raoul. - -"It's some one much worse than that!" replied the Persian, -without giving any further explanation.[5] - ----- -[5] Like the Persian, I can give no further explanation touching -the apparition of this shade. Whereas, in this historic narrative, -everything else will be normally explained, however abnormal -the course of events may seem, I can not give the reader expressly -to understand what the Persian meant by the words, "It is some one -much worse than that!" The reader must try to guess for himself, -for I promised M. Pedro Gailhard, the former manager of the Opera, -to keep his secret regarding the extremely interesting and useful -personality of the wandering, cloaked shade which, while condemning -itself to live in the cellars of the Opera, rendered such immense -services to those who, on gala evenings, for instance, venture to stray -away from the stage. I am speaking of state services; and, upon my -word of honor, I can say no more. - -"It's not...he?" - -"He?...If he does not come behind us, we shall always see his -yellow eyes! That is more or less our safeguard to-night. But he -may come from behind, stealing up; and we are dead men if we do not -keep our hands as though about to fire, at the level of our eyes, -in front!" - -The Persian had hardly finished speaking, when a fantastic face -came in sight...a whole fiery face, not only two yellow eyes! - -Yes, a head of fire came toward them, at a man's height, but with no -body attached to it. The face shed fire, looked in the darkness -like a flame shaped as a man's face. - -"Oh," said the Persian, between his teeth. "I have never seen this -before!...Pampin was not mad, after all: he had seen it!... -What can that flame be? It is not HE, but he may have sent it! -...Take care!...Take care! Your hand at the level of your eyes, -in Heaven's name, at the level of your eyes!...know most of his tricks... -but not this one....Come, let us run....it is safer. -Hand at the level of your eyes!" - -And they fled down the long passage that opened before them. - -After a few seconds, that seemed to them like long minutes, -they stopped. - -"He doesn't often come this way," said the Persian. "This side -has nothing to do with him. This side does not lead to the lake -nor to the house on the lake....But perhaps he knows that we -are at his heels...although I promised him to leave him alone -and never to meddle in his business again!" - -So saying, he turned his head and Raoul also turned his head; -and they again saw the head of fire behind their two heads. -It had followed them. And it must have run also, and perhaps faster -than they, for it seemed to be nearer to them. - -At the same time, they began to perceive a certain noise of which they -could not guess the nature. They simply noticed that the sound -seemed to move and to approach with the fiery face. It was a noise -as though thousands of nails had been scraped against a blackboard, -the perfectly unendurable noise that is sometimes made by a little -stone inside the chalk that grates on the blackboard. - -They continued to retreat, but the fiery face came on, came on, -gaining on them. They could see its features clearly now. The eyes -were round and staring, the nose a little crooked and the mouth large, -with a hanging lower lip, very like the eyes, nose and lip of the moon, -when the moon is quite red, bright red. - -How did that red moon manage to glide through the darkness, -at a man's height, with nothing to support it, at least apparently? -And how did it go so fast, so straight ahead, with such staring, -staring eyes? And what was that scratching, scraping, grating sound -which it brought with it? - -The Persian and Raoul could retreat no farther and flattened -themselves against the wall, not knowing what was going to happen -because of that incomprehensible head of fire, and especially now, -because of the more intense, swarming, living, "numerous" sound, -for the sound was certainly made up of hundreds of little sounds -that moved in the darkness, under the fiery face. - -And the fiery face came on...with its noise...came level -with them!... - -And the two companions, flat against their wall, felt their hair -stand on end with horror, for they now knew what the thousand -noises meant. They came in a troop, hustled along in the shadow -by innumerable little hurried waves, swifter than the waves -that rush over the sands at high tide, little night-waves foaming -under the moon, under the fiery head that was like a moon. -And the little waves passed between their legs, climbing up -their legs, irresistibly, and Raoul and the Persian could no -longer restrain their cries of horror, dismay and pain. Nor could -they continue to hold their hands at the level of their eyes: -their hands went down to their legs to push back the waves, -which were full of little legs and nails and claws and teeth. - -Yes, Raoul and the Persian were ready to faint, like Pampin the fireman. -But the head of fire turned round in answcr to their cries, -and spoke to them: - -"Don't move! Don't move!...Whatever you do, don't come after me! -... I am the rat-catcher!...Let me pass, with my rats!..." - -And the head of fire disappeared, vanished in the darkness, -while the passage in front of it lit up, as the result of the change -which the rat-catcher had made in his dark lantern. Before, so as not -to scare the rats in front of him, he had turned his dark lantern -on himself, lighting up his own head; now, to hasten their flight, -he lit the dark space in front of him. And he jumped along, -dragging with him the waves of scratching rats, all the thousand sounds. - -Raoul and the Persian breathed again, though still trembling. - -"I ought to have remembered that Erik talked to me about the rat-catcher," -said the Persian. "But he never told me that he looked like that... -and it's funny that I should never have met him before.... -Of course, Erik never comes to this part!" - -{two page color illustration} - -"Are we very far from the lake, sir?" asked Raoul. "When shall we -get there?...Take me to the lake, oh, take me to the lake!... -When we are at the lake, we will call out!...Christine will -hear us!...And HE will hear us, too!...And, as you know him, -we shall talk to him!" "Baby!" said the Persian. "We shall never -enter the house on the lake by the lake!...I myself have never -landed on the other bank...the bank on which the house stands. -...You have to cross the lake first...and it is well guarded! -...I fear that more than one of those men--old scene-shifters, -old door-shutters--who have never been seen again were simply tempted -to cross the lake....It is terrible....I myself would have -been nearly killed there...if the monster had not recognized me -in time!...One piece of advice, sir; never go near the lake. -...And, above all, shut your ears if you hear the voice singing -under the water, the siren's voice!" - -"But then, what are we here for?" asked Raoul, in a transport of fever, -impatience and rage. "If you can do nothing for Christine, at least -let me die for her!" The Persian tried to calm the young man. - -"We have only one means of saving Christine Daae, believe me, -which is to enter the house unperceived by the monster." - -"And is there any hope of that, sir?" - -"Ah, if I had not that hope, I would not have come to fetch you!" - -"And how can one enter the house on the lake without crossing -the lake?" - -"From the third cellar, from which we were so unluckily driven away. -We will go back there now....I will tell you," said the Persian, -with a sudden change in his voice, "I will tell you the exact -place, sir: it is between a set piece and a discarded scene from -ROI DE LAHORE, exactly at the spot where Joseph Buquet died. -... Come, sir, take courage and follow me! And hold your hand -at the level of your eyes!...But where are we?" - -The Persian lit his lamp again and flung its rays down two enormous -corridors that crossed each other at right angles. - -"We must be," he said, "in the part used more particularly -for the waterworks. I see no fire coming from the furnaces." - -He went in front of Raoul, seeking his road, stopping abruptly -when he was afraid of meeting some waterman. Then they had to -protect themselves against the glow of a sort of underground forge, -which the men were extinguishing, and at which Raoul recognized -the demons whom Christine had seen at the time of her first captivity. - -In this way, they gradually arrived beneath the huge cellars below -the stage. They must at this time have been at the very bottom -of the "tub" and at an extremely great depth, when we remember -that the earth was dug out at fifty feet below the water that lay -under the whole of that part of Paris.[6] - ----- -[6] All the water had to be exhausted, in the building of the Opera. -To give an idea of the amount of water that was pumped up, I can -tell the reader that it represented the area of the courtyard -of the Louvre and a height half as deep again as the towers of -Notre Dame. And nevertheless the engineers had to leave a lake. -sounding on the floor of the upper portions of the theater. - -The Persian touched a partition-wall and said: - -"If I am not mistaken, this is a wall that might easily belong -to the house on the lake." - -He was striking a partition-wall of the "tub," and perhaps it would be -as well for the reader to know how the bottom and the partition-walls -of the tub were built. In order to prevent the water surrounding -the building-operations from remaining in immediate contact -with the walls supporting the whole of the theatrical machinery, -the architect was obliged to build a double case in every direction. -The work of constructing this double case took a whole year. -It was the wall of the first inner case that the Persian struck -when speaking to Raoul of the house on the lake. To any one -understanding the architecture of the edifice, the Persian's -action would seem to indicate that Erik's mysterious house had -been built in the double case, formed of a thick wall constructed -as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall, a tremendous -layer of cement and another wall several yards in thickness. - -At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against the wall -and listened eagerly. But he heard nothing...nothing -... except distant steps. - -The Persian darkened his lantern again. - -"Look out!" he said. "Keep your hand up! And silence! For we -shall try another way of getting in." - -And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come -down lately. - -They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness -and the silence, till they came to the third cellar. Here the -Persian motioned to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, -crawling on both knees and one hand--for the other hand was held -in the position indicated--they reached the end wall. - -Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE. -Close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set -piece there was just room for a body...for a body which one day -was found hanging there. The body of Joseph Buquet. - -The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment, -he seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his -eyes upward, toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint -glimmer of a lantern, through a cranny between two boards. -This glimmer seemed to trouble the Persian. - -At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act. He slipped -between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul -close upon his heels. With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall. -Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed -against the wall in Christine's dressing-room. Then a stone gave way, -leaving a hole in the wall. - -This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made -a sign to Raoul to do as he did. He cocked the pistol. - -And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole -in the wall. Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content -to follow him. - -The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped almost at once. -Raoul heard him feeling the stones around him. Then the Persian took -out his dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath -him and immediately extinguished his Iantern. Raoul heard him say, -in a whisper: - -"We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise; -take off your boots." - -The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul. - -"Put them outside the wall," he said. "We shall find them there -when we leave."[7] - ----- -[7] These two pairs of boots, which were placed, according to the Persian's -papers, just between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, -on the spot where Joseph Buquet was found hanging, were never discovered. -They must have been taken by some stage-carpenter or "door-shutter." - -He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round -and said: - -"I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and -let myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE. You must do exactly the same. -Do not be afraid. I will catch you in my arms." - -Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall -of the Persian, and then dropped down. - -He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms. - -"Hush!" said the Persian. - -And they stood motionless, listening. - -The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible. - -Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern again, -turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole through -which they had come, and failing to find it: - -"Oh!" he said. "The stone has closed of itself!" - -And the light of the lantern swept down the wall and over the floor. - -The Persian stooped and picked up something, a sort of cord, -which he examined for a second and flung away with horror. - -"The Punjab lasso!" he muttered. - -"What is it?" asked Raoul. - -The Persian shivered. "It might very well be the rope by which -the man was hanged, and which was looked for so long." - -And, suddenly seized with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk -of his lantern over the walls. In this way, he lit up a curious thing: -the trunk of a tree, which seemed still quite alive, with its leaves; -and the branches of that tree ran right up the walls and disappeared -in the ceiling. - -Because of the smallness of the luminous disk, it was difficult -at first to make out the appearance of things: they saw a corner -of a branch...and a leaf...and another leaf...and, -next to it, nothing at all, nothing but the ray of light -that seemed to reflect itself....Raoul passed his hand over -that nothing, over that reflection. - -"Hullo!" he said. "The wall is a looking-glass!" - -"Yes, a looking-glass!" said the Persian, in a tone of deep emotion. -And, passing the hand that held the pistol over his moist forehead, -he added, "We have dropped into the torture-chamber!" - -What the Persian knew of this torture-chamber and what there befell -him and his companion shall be told in his own words, as set down -in a manuscript which he left behind him, and which I copy VERBATIM. - - - -Chapter XXI Interesting and Instructive Vicissitudes of a -Persian in the Cellars of the Opera - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE - -It was the first time that I entered the house on the lake. -I had often begged the "trap-door lover," as we used to call Erik -in my country, to open its mysterious doors to me. He always refused. -I made very many attempts, but in vain, to obtain admittance. -Watch him as I might, after I first learned that he had taken up -his permanent abode at the Opera, the darkness was always too thick -to enable me to see how he worked the door in the wall on the lake. -One day, when I thought myself alone, I stepped into the boat -and rowed toward that part of the wall through which I had seen -Erik disappear. It was then that I came into contact with the siren -who guarded the approach and whose charm was very nearly fatal -to me. - -I had no sooner put off from the bank than the silence amid which I -floated on the water was disturbed by a sort of whispered singing -that hovered all around me. It was half breath, half music; -it rose softly from the waters of the lake; and I was surrounded by it -through I knew not what artifice. It followed me, moved with me -and was so soft that it did not alarm me. On the contrary, in my -longing to approach the source of that sweet and enticing harmony, -I leaned out of my little boat over the water, for there was no doubt -in my mind that the singing came from the water itself. By this time, -I was alone in the boat in the middle of the lake; the voice-- -for it was now distinctly a voice--was beside me, on the water. -I leaned over, leaned still farther. The lake was perfectly calm, -and a moonbeam that passed through the air hole in the Rue Scribe -showed me absolutely nothing on its surface, which was smooth and -black as ink. I shook my ears to get rid of a possible humming; -but I soon had to accct the fact that there was no humming in -the ears so harmonious as the singing whisper that followed and now -attracted me. - -Had I been inclined to superstition, I should have certainly thought -that I had to do with some siren whose business it was to confound -the traveler who should venture on the waters of the house on -the lake. Fortunately, I come from a country where we are too -fond of fantastic things not to know them through and through; -and I had no doubt but that I was face to face with some new -invention of Erik's. But this invention was so perfect that, -as I leaned out of the boat, I was impelled less by a desire -to discover its trick than to enjoy its charm; and I leaned out, -leaned out until I almost overturned the boat. - -Suddenly, two monstrous arms issued from the bosom of the waters -and seized me by the neck, dragging me down to the depths -with irresistible force. I should certainly have been lost, -if I had not had time to give a cry by which Erik knew me. -For it was he; and, instead of drowning me, as was certainly -his first intention, he swam with me and laid me gently on the bank: - -"How imprudent you are!" he said, as he stood before me, dripping with water. -"Why try to enter my house? I never invited you! I don't want you there, -nor anybody! Did you save my life only to make it unbearable to me? -However great the service you rendered him, Erik may end by forgetting -it; and you know that nothing can restrain Erik, not even Erik himself." - -He spoke, but I had now no other wish than to know what I already -called the trick of the siren. He satisfied my curiosity, for Erik, -who is a real monster--I have seen him at work in Persia, alas--is also, -in certain respects, a regular child, vain and self-conceited, -and there is nothing he loves so much, after astonishing people, -as to prove all the really miraculous ingenuity of his mind. - -He laughed and showed me a long reed. - -"It's the silliest trick you ever saw," he said, "but it's very useful for -breathing and singing in the water. I learned it from the Tonkin pirates, -who are able to remain hidden for hours in the beds of the rivers."[8] - ----- -[8] An official report from Tonkin, received in Paris at the end -of July, 1909, relates how the famous pirate chief De Tham -was tracked, together with his men, by our soldiers; and how -all of them succeeded in escaping, thanks to this trick of the reeds. - -I spoke to him severely. - -"It's a trick that nearly killed me!" I said. "And it may have -been fatal to others! You know what you promised me, Erik? -No more murders!" - -"Have I really committed murders?" he asked, putting on his most -amiable air. - -"Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours -of Mazenderan?" - -"Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. -I used to make the little sultana laugh, though!" - -"All that belongs to the past," I declared; "but there is the present -... and you are responsible to me for the present, because, -if I had wished, there would have been none at all for you. -Remember that, Erik: I saved your life!" - -And I took advantage of the turn of conversation to speak to him -of something that had long been on my mind: - -"Erik," I asked, "Erik, swear that..." - -"What?" he retorted. "You know I never keep my oaths. Oaths are -made to catch gulls with." - -"Tell me...you can tell me, at any rate. ..." - -"Well?" - -"Well, the chandelier...the chandelier, Erik?..." - -"What about the chandelier?" - -"You know what I mean." - -"Oh," he sniggered, "I don't mind telling you about the chandelier! -...IT WASN'T I!...The chandelier was very old and worn." - -When Erik laughed, he was more terrible than ever. He jumped into -the boat, chuckling so horribly that I could not help trembling. - -"Very old and worn, my dear daroga![9] Very old and worn, -the chandelier!...It fell of itself!...It came down -with a smash!...And now, daroga, take my advice and go -and dry yourself, or you'll catch a cold in the head!... -And never get into my boat again....And, whatever you do, -don't try to enter my house: I'm not always there...daroga! -And I should be sorry to have to dedicate my Requiem Mass to you!" - ----- -[9] DAROGA is Persian for chief of police. - -So saying, swinging to and fro, like a monkey, and still chuckling, -he pushed off and soon disappeared in the darkness of the lake. - -From that day, I gave up all thought of penetrating into his -house by the lake. That entrance was obviously too well guarded, -especially since he had learned that I knew about it. But I felt -that there must be another entrance, for I had often seen Erik -disappear in the third cellar, when I was watching him, though I -could not imagine how. - -Ever since I had discovered Erik installed in the Opera, I lived -in a perpetual terror of his horrible fancies, not in so far as I -was concerned, but I dreaded everything for others.[10] - ----- -[10] The Persian might easily have admitted that Erik's fate also -interested himself, for he was well aware that, if the government -of Teheran had learned that Erik was still alive, it would have -been all up with the modest pension of the erstwhile daroga. -It is only fair, however, to add tha the Persian had a noble and -generous heart; and I do not doubt for a moment that the catastrophes -which he feared for others greatly occupied his mind. His conduct, -throughout this business, proves it and is above all praise. - -And whenever some accident, some fatal event happened, I always -thought to myself, "I should not be surprised if that were Erik," -even as others used to say, "It's the ghost!" How often have I -not heard people utter that phrase with a smile! Poor devils! -If they had known that the ghost existed in the flesh, I swear they -would not have laughed! - -Although Erik announced to me very solemnly that he had changed -and that he had become the most virtuous of men SINCE HE WAS LOVED -FOR HIMSELF--a sentence that, at first, perplexed me most terribly-- -I could not help shuddering when I thought of the monster. -His horrible, unparalleled and repulsive ugliness put him without -the pale of humanity; and it often seemed to me that, for this reason, -he no longer believed that he had any duty toward the human race. -The way in which he spoke of his love affairs only increased my alarm, -for I foresaw the cause of fresh and more hideous tragedies in this -event to which he alluded so boastfully. - -On the other hand, I soon discovered the curious moral traffic -established between the monster and Christine Daae. Hiding in -the lumber-room next to the young prima donna's dressing-room, -I listened to wonderful musical displays that evidently flung Christine -into marvelous ecstasy; but, all the same, I would never have thought -that Erik's voice--which was loud as thunder or soft as angels' voices, -at will--could have made her forget his ugliness. I understood all when -I learned that Christine had not yet seen him! I had occasion to go -to the dressing-room and, remembering the lessons he had once -given me, I had no difficulty in discovering the trick that made -the wall with the mirror swing round and I ascertained the means -of hollow bricks and so on--by which he made his voice carry -to Christine as though she heard it close beside her. In this way -also I discovered the road that led to the well and the dungeon-- -the Communists' dungeon--and also the trap-door that enabled Erik -to go straight to the cellars below the stage. - -A few days later, what was not my amazement to learn by my own eyes -and ears that Erik and Christine Daae saw each other and to catch -the monster stooping over the little well, in the Communists' -road and sprinkling the forehead of Christine Daae, who had fainted. -A white horse, the horse out of the PROFETA, which had disappeared -from the stables under the Opera, was standing quietly beside them. -I showed myself. It was terrible. I saw sparks fly from those yellow -eyes and, before I had time to say a word, I received a blow on -the head that stunned me. - -When I came to myself, Erik, Christine and the white horse had disappeared. -I felt sure that the poor girl was a prisoner in the house on -the lake. Without hesitation, I resolved to return to the bank, -notwithstanding the attendant danger. For twenty-four hours, I lay -in wait for the monster to appear; for I felt that he must go out, -driven by the need of obtaining provisions. And, in this connection, -I may say, that, when he went out in the streets or ventured to show -himself in public, he wore a pasteboard nose, with a mustache -attached to it, instead of his own horrible hole of a nose. -This did not quite take away his corpse-like air, but it made -him almost, I say almost, endurable to look at. - -I therefore watched on the bank of the lake and, weary of long waiting, -was beginning to think that he had gone through the other door, -the door in the third cellar, when I heard a slight splashing in -the dark, I saw the two yellow eyes shining like candles and soon -the boat touched shore. Erik jumped out and walked up to me: - -"You've been here for twenty-four hours," he said, "and you're -annoying me. I tell you, all this will end very badly. And you -will have brought it upon yourself; for I have been extraordinarily -patient with you. You think you are following me, you great booby, -whereas it's I who am following you; and I know all that you know -about me, here. I spared you yesterday, in MY COMMUNISTS' ROAD; -but I warn you, seriously, don't let me catch you there again! -Upon my word, you don't seem able to take a hint!" - -He was so furious that I did not think, for the moment, -of interrupting him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus, -he put his horrible thought into words: - -"Yes, you must learn, once and for all--once and for all, I say-- -to take a hint! I tell you that, with your recklessness--for you -have already been twice arrested by the shade in the felt hat, -who did not know what you were doing in the cellars and took you to -the managers, who looked upon you as an eccentric Persian interested -in stage mechanism and life behind the scenes: I know all about it, -I was there, in the office; you know I am everywhere--well, I tell -you that, with your recklessness, they will end by wondering what -you are after here...and they will end by knowing that you -are after Erik...and then they will be after Erik themselves -and they will discover the house on the lake....If they do, -it will be a bad lookout for you, old chap, a bad lookout!... -won't answer for anything." - -Again he puffed and blew like a walrus. - -"I won't answer for anything!...If Erik's secrets cease to be -Erik's secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER -OF THE HUMAN RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you -are a great booby, it ought to be enough for you...except -that you don't know how to take a hint." - -He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his -heels against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer. -I simply said: - -"It's not Erik that I'm after here!" - -"Who then?" - -"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered. - -He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house. -I am loved for my own sake." - -"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are -keeping her locked up." - -"Listen," he said. "Will you promise never to meddle with my -affairs again, if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?" - -"Yes, I promise you," I replied, without hesitation, for I felt -convinced that for such a monster the proof was impossible. - -"Well, then, it's quite simple....Christine Daae shall leave -this as she pleases and come back again!...Yes, come back again, -because she wishes...come back of herself, because she loves me -for myself!..." - -"Oh, I doubt if she will come back!...But it is your duty to let -her go." "My duty, you great booby!...It is my wish... -my wish to let her go; and she will come back again...for she -loves me!...All this will end in a marriage...a marriage -at the Madeleine, you great booby! Do you believe me now? -When I tell you that my nuptial mass is written...wait till -you hear the KYRIE. ..." - -He beat time with his heels on the planks of the boat and sang: - -"KYRIE!...KYRIE!...KYRIE ELEISON!...Wait till you hear, -wait till you hear that mass." - -"Look here," I said. "I shall believe you if I see Christine Daae -come out of the house on the lake and go back to it of her own accord." - -"And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?" - -"No." - -"Very well, you shall see that to-night. Come to the masked ball. -Christine and I will go and have a look round. Then you can hide -in the lumber-room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone -to her dressing-room, delighted to come back by the Communists' road. -...And, now, be off, for I must go and do some shopping!" - -To my intense astonishment, things happened as he had announced. -Christine Daae left the house on the lake and returned to it -several times, without, apparently, being forced to do so. It was -very difficult for me to clear my mind of Erik. However, I resolved -to be extremely prudent, and did not make the mistake of returning -to the shore of the lake, or of going by the Communists' road. -But the idea of the secret entrance in the third cellar haunted me, -and I repeatedly went and waited for hours behind a scene from the Roi -de Lahore, which had been left there for some reason or other. -At last my patience was rewarded. One day, I saw the monster come -toward me, on his knees. I was certain that he could not see me. -He passed between the scene behind which I stood and a set piece, -went to the wall and pressed on a spring that moved a stone and -afforded him an ingress. He passed through this, and the stone closed -behind him. - -I waited for at least thirty minutes and then pressed the spring -in my turn. Everything happened as with Erik. But I was careful -not to go through the hole myself, for I knew that Erik was inside. -On the other hand, the idea that I might be caught by Erik suddenly -made me think of the death of Joseph Buquet. I did not wish -to jeopardize the advantages of so great a discovery which might -be useful to many people, "to a goodly number of the human race," -in Erik's words; and I left the cellars of the Opera after carefully -replacing the stone. - -I continued to be greatly interested in the relations between Erik -and Christine Daae, not from any morbid curiosity, but because of -the terrible thought which obsessed my mind that Erik was capable -of anything, if he once discovered that he was not loved for his -own sake, as he imagined. I continued to wander, very cautiously, -about the Opera and soon learned the truth about the monster's -dreary love-affair. - -He filled Christine's mind, through the terror with which he -inspired her, but the dear child's heart belonged wholly to the -Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. While they played about, like an innocent -engaged couple, on the upper floors of the Opera, to avoid the monster, -they little suspected that some one was watching over them. -I was prepared to do anything: to kill the monster, if necessary, -and explain to the police afterward. But Erik did not show himself; -and I felt none the more comfortable for that. - -I must explain my whole plan. I thought that the monster, -being driven from his house by jealousy, would thus enable me to -enter it, without danger, through the passage in the third cellar. -It was important, for everybody's sake, that I should know exactly -what was inside. One day, tired of waiting for an opportunity, -I moved the stone and at once heard an astounding music: -the monster was working at his Don Juan Triumphant, with every door -in his house wide open. I knew that this was the work of his life. -I was careful not to stir and remained prudently in my dark hole. - -He stopped playing, for a moment, and began walking about his place, -like a madman. And he said aloud, at the top of his voice: - -"It must be finished FIRST! Quite finished!" - -This speech was not calculated to reassure me and, when the -music recommenced, I closed the stone very softly. - -On the day of the abduction of Christine Daae, I did not come -to the theater until rather late in the evening, trembling lest I -should hear bad news. I had spent a horrible day, for, after reading -in a morning paper the announcement of a forthcoming marriage -between Christine and the Vicomte de Chagny, I wondered whether, -after all, I should not do better to denounce the monster. -But reason returned to me, and I was persuaded that this action -could only precipitate a possible catastrophe. - -When, my cab set me down before the Opera, I was really almost -astonished to see it still standing! But I am something of a fatalist, -like all good Orientals, and I entered ready, for anything. - -Christine Daae's abduction in the Prison Act, which naturally -surprised everybody, found me prepared. I was quite certain -that she had been juggled away by Erik, that prince of conjurers. -And I thought positively that this was the end of Christine and perhaps -of everybody, so much so that I thought of advising all these people -who were staying on at the theater to make good their escape. -I felt, however, that they would be sure to look upon me as mad -and I refrained. - -On the other hand, I resolved to act without further delay, -as far as I was concerned. The chances were in my favor that Erik, -at that moment, was thinking only of his captive. This was the -moment to enter his house through the third cellar; and I resolved -to take with me that poor little desperate viscount, who, at the -first suggestion, accepted, with an amount of confidence in myself -that touched me profoundly. I had sent my servant for my pistols. -I gave one to the viscount and advised him to hold himself ready -to fire, for, after all, Erik might be waiting for us behind the wall. -We were to go by the Communists' road and through the trap-door. - -Seeing my pistols, the little viscount asked me if we were going -to fight a duel. I said: - -"Yes; and what a duel!" But, of course, I had no time to explain -anything to him. The little viscount is a brave fellow, but he -knew hardly anything about his adversary; and it was so much -the better. My great fear was that he was already somewhere near us, -preparing the Punjab lasso. No one knows better than he how to throw -the Punjab lasso, for he is the king of stranglers even as he is -the prince of conjurors. When he had finished making the little -sultana laugh, at the time of the "rosy hours of Mazenderan," -she herself used to ask him to amuse her by giving her a thrill. -It was then that he introduced the sport of the Punjab lasso. - -He had lived in India and acquired an incredible skill in the art -of strangulation. He would make them lock him into a courtyard -to which they brought a warrior--usually, a man condemned to death-- -armed with a long pike and broadsword. Erik had only his lasso; -and it was always just when the warrior thought that he was going -to fell Erik with a tremendous blow that we heard the lasso whistle -through the air. With a turn of the wrist, Erik tightened the noose -round his adversary's neck and, in this fashion, dragged him before -the little sultana and her women, who sat looking from a window -and applauding. The little sultana herself learned to wield the Punjab -lasso and killed several of her women and even of the friends who -visited her. But I prefer to drop this terrible subject of the rosy -hours of Mazenderan. I have mentioned it only to explain why, -on arriving with the Vicomte de Chagny in the cellars of the Opera, -I was bound to protect my companion against the ever-threatening -danger of death by strangling. My pistols could serve no purpose, -for Erik was not likely to show himself; but Erik could always -strangle us. I had no time to explain all this to the viscount; -besides, there was nothing to be gained by complicating the position. -I simply told M. de Chagny to keep his hand at the level of his eyes, -with the arm bent, as though waiting for the command to fire. -With his victim in this attitude, it is impossible even for -the most expert strangler to throw the lasso with advantage. -It catches you not only round the neck, but also round the arm -or hand. This enables you easily to unloose the lasso, which then -becomes harmless. - -After avoiding the commissary of police, a number of door-shutters -and the firemen, after meeting the rat-catcher and passing the man -in the felt hat unperceived, the viscount and I arrived without -obstacle in the third cellar, between the set piece and the scene -from the Roi de Lahore. I worked the stone, and we jumped -into the house which Erik had built himself in the double case -of the foundation-walls of the Opera. And this was the easiest -thing in the world for him to do, because Erik was one of the chief -contractors under Philippe Garnier, the architect of the Opera, -and continued to work by himself when the works were officially -suspended, during the war, the siege of Paris and the Commune. - -I knew my Erik too well to feel at all comfortable on jumping into -his house. I knew what he had made of a certain palace at Mazenderan. -From being the most honest building conceivable, he soon turned it -into a house of the very devil, where you could not utter a word -but it was overheard or repeated by an echo. With his trap-doors -the monster was responsible for endless tragedies of all kinds. -He hit upon astonishing inventions. Of these, the most curious, -horrible and dangerous was the so-called torture-chamber. Except -in special cases, when the little sultana amused herself by inflicting -suffering upon some unoffending citizen, no one was let into it -but wretches condemned to death. And, even then, when these had -"had enough," they were always at liberty to put an end to themselves -with a Punjab lasso or bowstring, left for their use at the foot -of an iron tree. - -My alarm, therefore, was great when I saw that the room into -which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I had dropped was an exact -copy of the torture-chamber of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. -At our feet, I found the Punjab lasso which I had been dreading -all the evening. I was convinced that this rope had already done -duty for Joseph Buquet, who, like myself, must have caught Erik one -evening working the stone in the third cellar. He probably tried it -in his turn, fell into the torture-chamber and only left it hanged. -I can well imagine Erik dragging the body, in order to get rid of it, -to the scene from the Roi de Lahore, and hanging it there as an example, -or to increase the superstitious terror that was to help him -in guarding the approaches to his lair! Then, upon reflection, -Erik went back to fetch the Punjab lasso, which is very curiously -made out of catgut, and which might have set an examining -magistrate thinking. This explains the disappearance of the rope. - -And now I discovered the lasso, at our feet, in the torture-chamber! -... I am no coward, but a cold sweat covered my forehead as I -moved the little red disk of my lantern over the walls. - -M. de Chagny noticed it and asked: - -"What is the matter, sir?" - -I made him a violent sign to be silent. - - - -Chapter XXII In the Torture Chamber - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -We were in the middle of a little six-cornered room, the sides -of which were covered with mirrors from top to bottom. -In the corners, we could clearly see the "joins" in the glasses, -the segments intended to turn on their gear; yes, I recognized -them and I recognized the iron tree in the corner, at the bottom -of one of those segments...the iron tree, with its iron branch, -for the hanged men. - -I seized my companion's arm: the Vicomte de Chagny was all a-quiver, -eager to shout to his betrothed that he was bringing her help. -I feared that he would not be able to contain himself. - -Suddenly, we heard a noise on our left. It sounded at first -like a door opening and shutting in the next room; and then there -was a dull moan. I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still; -and then we distinctly heard these words: - -"You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!" -I recognized the voice of the monster. - -There was another moan, followed by a long silence. - -I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence -in his house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not -to let us hear him. He would only have had to close the little -invisible window through which the torture-lovers look down into -the torture-chamber. Besides, I was certain that, if he had known -of our presence, the tortures would have begun at once. - -The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded -nothing so much as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny, -who wanted to rush through the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans -we continued to hear at intervals. - -"The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed, -"whereas the wedding mass--you can take my word for it--is magnificent! -You must take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go -on living like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant -is finished; and now I want to live like everybody else. I want -to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. -I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not -even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. -And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. -You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. -Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. -If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do -anything with me that you pleased." - -Soon the moans that accompanied this sort of love's litany increased -and increased. I have never heard anything more despairing; -and M. de Chagny and I recognized that this terrible lamentation came -from Erik himself. Christine seemed to be standing dumb with horror, -without the strength to cry out, while the monster was on his knees -before her. - -Three times over, Erik fiercely bewailed his fate: - -"You don't love me! You don't love me! You don't love me!" - -And then, more gently: - -"Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!" - -A silence. - -Each silence gave us fresh hope. We said to ourselves: - -"Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall." - -And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae -of our presence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave -the torture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us; -and it was only on this condition that we could hope to help her, -for we did not even know where the door might be. - -Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing -of an electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall -and Erik's voice of thunder: - -"Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!" - -A sinister chuckle. - -"Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here....I AM GOING -TO TELL THE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR." - -Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the fresh -horror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going -out perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing: -Christine was alone behind the wall! - -The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her: - -"Christine! Christine!" - -As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was -no reason why my companion should not be heard in his turn. -Nevertheless, the viscount had to repeat his cry time after time. - -At last, a faint voice reached us. - -"I am dreaming!" it said. - -"Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul!" - -A silence. - -"But answer me, Christine!...In Heaven's name, if you are alone, -answer me!" - -Then Christine's voice whispered Raoul's name. - -"Yes! Yes! It is I! It is not a dream!...Christine, -trust me!...We are here to save you...but be prudent! -When you hear the monster, warn us!" - -Then Christine gave way to fear. She trembled lest Erik should -discover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words -that Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO -KILL EVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent -to become his wife. He had given her till eleven o'clock the next -evening for reflection. It was the last respite. She must choose, -as he said, between the wedding mass and the requiem. - -And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not -quite understand: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded -in a terrible manner with my own dreadful thought. - -"Can you tell us where Erik is?" I asked. - -She replied that he must have left the house. - -"Could you make sure?" - -"No. I am fastened. I can not stir a limb." - -When we heard this, M. de Chagny and I gave a yell of fury. -Our safety, the safety of all three of us, depended on the girl's -liberty of movement. - -"But where are you?" asked Christine. "There are only two doors -in my room, the Louis-Philippe room of which I told you, Raoul; a door -through which Erik comes and goes, and another which he has never -opened before me and which he has forbidden me ever to go through, -because he says it is the most dangerous of the doors, the door -of the torture-chamher!" - -"Christine, that is where we are!" - -"You are in the torture-chamber?" - -"Yes, but we can not see the door." - -"Oh! if I could only drag myself so far! I would knock at the door -and that would tell you where it is." - -"Is it a door with a lock to it?" I asked. - -"Yes, with a lock." - -"Mademoiselle," I said, "it is absolutely necessary, that you -should open that door to us!" - -"But how?" asked the poor girl tearfully. - -We heard her straining, trying to free herself from the bonds -that held her. - -"I know where the key is," she said, in a voice that seemed exhausted -by the effort she had made. "But I am fastened so tight....Oh, -the wretch!" - -And she gave a sob. - -"Where is the key?" I asked, signing to M. de Chagny not to speak -and to leave the business to me, for we had not a moment to lose. - -"In the next room, near the organ, with another little bronze key, -which he also forbade me to touch. They are both in a little -leather bag which he calls the bag of life and death. -... Raoul! Raoul! Fly! Everything is mysterious and -terrible here, and Erik will soon have gone quite mad, and you -are in the torture-chamber!...Go back by the way you came. -There must be a reason why the room is called by that name!" - -"Christine," said the young man. "we will go from here together -or die together!" - -"We must keep cool," I whispered. "Why has he fastened you, -mademoiselle? You can't escape from his house; and he knows it!" - -"I tried to commit suicide! The monster went out last night, -after carrying me here fainting and half chloroformed. He was -going TO HIS BANKER, so he said!...When he returned he found -me with my face covered with blood....I had tried to kill -myself by striking my forehead against the walls." - -"Christine!" groaned Raoul; and he began to sob. - -"Then he bound me....I am not allowed to die until eleven -o'clock to-morrow evening." - -"Mademoiselle," I declared, "the monster bound you...and he -shall unbind you. You have only to play the necessary part! -Remember that he loves you!" - -"Alas!" we heard. "Am I likely to forget it!" - -"Remember it and smile to him...entreat him...tell him -that your bonds hurt you." - -But Christine Daae said: - -"Hush!...I hear something in the wall on the lake!...It -is he!...Go away! Go away! Go away!" - -"We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressively -as I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in the torture-chamber!" - -"Hush!" whispered Christine again. - -Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made -the floor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by -a cry of horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice: - -"I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! -What a state I am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! -Why did he ring? Do I ask people who pass to tell me the time? -He will never ask anybody the time again! It is the siren's fault." - -{two page color illustration} - -Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmal -depths of a soul. - -"Why did you cry out, Christine?" - -"Because I am in pain, Erik." - -"I thought I had frightened you." - -"Erik, unloose my bonds....Am I not your prisoner?" - -"You will try to kill yourself again." - -"You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik." - -The footsteps dragged along the floor again. - -"After all, as we are to die together...and I am just as eager -as you...yes, I have had enough of this life, you know. -...Wait, don't move, I will release you....You have only -one word to say: `NO!' And it will at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! -...You are right, you are right; why wait till eleven o'clock -to-morrow evening? True, it would have been grander, finer....But -that is childish nonsense....We should only think of ourselves -in this life, of our own death...the rest doesn't matter. -...YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET?... Oh, -my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside!...Apart from that, -Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations....You know, -the man who rang at the siren's door just now--go and look if he's -ringing at the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like. -...There, turn round...are you glad? You're free now. -...Oh, my poor Christine, look at your wrists: tell me, have I -hurt them?...That alone deserves death....Talking of death, -I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!" - -Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment -...I too had once rung at the monster's door...and, -without knowing it, must have set some warning current in motion. - -And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters. -...What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? -Who was `the other one,' the one whose requiem we now heard sung? - -Erik sang like the god of thunder, sang a DIES IRAE that enveloped -us as in a storm. The elements seemed to rage around us. -Suddenly, the organ and the voice ceased so suddenly that M. de -Chagny sprang back, on the other side of the wall, with emotion. -And the voice, changed and transformed, distinctly grated -out these metallic syllables: "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG?" - - - -Chapter XXIII The Tortures Begin - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. - -The voice repeated angrily: "What have you done with my bag? -So it was to take my bag that you asked me to release you!" - -We heard hurried steps, Christine running back to the Louis-Philippe -room, as though to seek shelter on the other side of our wall. - -"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, -which had followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? -Don't you know that it is the bag of life and death?" - -"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we -are to live together...what difference can it make to you?" - -"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. -"What do you want to do?" - -"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you -have always kept from me....It's woman's curiosity!" she said, -in a tone which she tried to render playful. - -But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it. - -"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better -remember the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful....Come, give me -back my bag!...Give me back my bag!...Leave the key alone, -will you, you inquisitive little thing?" - -And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had -evidently recovered the bag from her. - -At that moment, the viscount could not help uttering an exclamation -of impotent rage. - -"Why, what's that?" said the monster. "Did you hear, Christine?" - -"No, no," replied the poor girl. "I heard nothing." - -"I thought I heard a cry." - -"A cry! Are you going mad, Erik? Whom do you expect to give a cry, -in this house?...I cried out, because you hurt me! I heard nothing." - -"I don't like the way you said that!...You're trembling. -... You're quite excited....You're lying!...That was a cry, -there was a cry!...There is some one in the torture-chamber!... -Ah, I understand now!" - -"There is no one there, Erik!" - -"I understand!" - -"No one!" - -"The man you want to marry, perhaps!" - -"I don't want to marry anybody, you know I don't." - -Another nasty chuckle. "Well, it won't take long to find out. -Christine, my love, we need not open the door to see what is happening -in the torture-chamber. Would you like to see? Would you like -to see? Look here! If there is some one, if there is really some -one there, you will see the invisible window light up at the top, -near the ceiling. We need only draw the black curtain and put out -the light in here. There, that's it....Let's put out the light! -You're not afraid of the dark, when you're with your little husband!" - -Then we heard Christine's voice of anguish: - -"No!...I'm frightened!...I tell you, I'm afraid of the dark!... -I don't care about that room now....You're always frightening me, -like a child, with your torture-chamber!...And so I became inquisitive. -...But I don't care about it now...not a bit...not a bit!" - -And that which I feared above all things began, AUTOMATICALLY. -We were suddenly flooded with light! Yes, on our side of the wall, -everything seemed aglow. The Vicomte de Chagny was so much taken -aback that he staggered. And the angry voice roared: - -"I told you there was some one! Do you see the window now? -The lighted window, right up there? The man behind the wall can't -see it! But you shall go up the folding steps: that is what they -are there for!...You have often asked me to tell you; and now you -know!...They are there to give a peep into the torture-chamber -...you inquisitive little thing!" - -"What tortures?...Who is being tortured?...Erik, Erik, say you -are only trying to frighten me!...Say it, if you love me, -Erik!...There are no tortures, are there?" - -"Go and look at the little window, dear!" - -I do not know if the viscount heard the girl's swooning voice, -for he was too much occupied by the astounding spectacle that now -appeared before his distracted gaze. As for me, I had seen that sight -too often, through the little window, at the time of the rosy hours -of Mazenderan; and I cared only for what was being said next door, -seeking for a hint how to act, what resolution to take. - -"Go and peep through the little window! Tell me what he looks like!" - -We heard the steps being dragged against the wall. - -"Up with you!...No!...No, I will go up myself, dear!" - -"Oh, very well, I will go up. Let me go!" - -"Oh, my darling, my darling!...How sweet of you!...How nice -of you to save me the exertion at my age!...Tell me what he -looks like!" - -At that moment, we distinctly heard these words above our heads: - -"There is no one there, dear!" - -"No one?...Are you sure there is no one?" - -"Why, of course not...no one!" - -"Well, that's all right!...What's the matter, Christine? -You're not going to faint, are you...as there is no one there?... -Here...come down...there!...Pull yourself together...as there -is no one there!...BUT HOW DO YOU LIKE THE LANDSCAPE?" - -"Oh, very much!" - -"There, that's better!...You're better now, are you not?... -That's all right, you're better!...No excitement!...And -what a funny house, isn't it, with landscapes like that in it?" - -"Yes, it's like the Musee Grevin....But, say, Erik...there -are no tortures in there!...What a fright you gave me!" - -"Why...as there is no one there?" - -"Did you design that room? It's very handsome. You're a -great artist, Erik." - -"Yes, a great artist, in my own line." - -"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?" - -"Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?" - -"I saw a forest." - -"And what is in a forest?" - -"Trees." - -"And what is in a tree?" - -"Birds." - -"Did you see any birds?" - -"No, I did not see any birds." - -"Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are -the branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET! -That is why I call my wood the torture-chamber!...You see, -it's all a joke. I never express myself like other people. -But I am very tired of it!...I'm sick and tired of having a forest -and a torture-chamber in my house and of living like a mountebank, -in a house with a false bottom!...I'm tired of it! I want to -have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary doors and windows and a wife -inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom I could love and take -out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days...Here, shall I show -you some card-tricks? That will help us to pass a few minutes, -while waiting for eleven o'clock to-morrow evening....My dear little -Christine!...Are you listening to me?...Tell me you love me!... -No, you don't love me...but no matter, you will!...Once, -you could not look at my mask because you knew what was behind. -...And now you don't mind looking at it and you forget what is -behind!...One can get used to everything...if one wishes. -...Plenty of young people who did not care for each other -before marriage have adored each other since! Oh, I don't know -what I am talking about! But you would have lots of fun with me. -For instance, I am the greatest ventriloquist that ever lived, I am -the first ventriloquist in the world!...You're laughing.... -Perhaps you don't believe me? Listen." - -The wretch, who really was the first ventriloquist in the world, -was only trying to divert the child's attention from the torture-chamber; -but it was a stupid scheme, for Christine thought of nothing but us! -She repeatedly besought him, in the gentlest tones which she -could assume: - -"Put out the light in the little window!...Erik, do put out -the light in the little window!" - -For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of -which the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean -something terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment; -and that was seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst -of that resplendent light, alive and well. But she would certainly -have felt much easier if the light had been put out. - -Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. -He said: - -"Here, I raise my mask a little....Oh, only a little!... -You see my lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving!...My -mouth is closed--such mouth as I have--and yet you hear my voice. -...Where will you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? -In the table? In those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece?... -Listen, dear, it's in the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: -what does it say? `SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?'...And now, crack! -What does it say in the little box on the left? `SHALL I TURN -THE GRASSHOPPER?'...And now, crack! Here it is in the little -leather bag....What does it say? `I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE -AND DEATH!'...And now, crack! It is in Carlotta's throat, -in Carlotta's golden throat, in Carlotta's crystal throat, as I live! -What does it say? It says, `It's I, Mr. Toad, it's I singing! -I FEEL WITHOUT ALARM--CO-ACK--WITH ITS MELODY ENWIND ME--CO-ACK!'... -And now, crack! It is on a chair in the ghost's box and it says, -`MADAME CARLOTTA IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!' -...And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik's voice now? -Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of the -torture-chamber! Listen! It's myself in the torture-chamber! And -what do I say? I say, `Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, -and come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!'" - -Oh, the ventriloquist's terrible voice! It was everywhere, everywhere. -It passed through the litde invisible window, through the walls. -It ran around us, between us. Erik was there, speaking to us! -We made a movement as though to fling ourselves upon him. -But, already, swifter, more fleeting than the voice of the echo, -Erik's voice had leaped back behind the wall! - -Soon we heard nothing more at all, for this is what happened: - -"Erik! Erik!" said Christine's voice. "You tire me with your voice. -Don't go on, Erik! Isn't it very hot here?" - -"Oh, yes," replied Erik's voice, "the heat is unendurable!" - -"But what does this mean?...The wall is really getting quite -hot!...The wall is burning!" - -"I'll tell you, Christine, dear: it is because of the forest -next door." - -"Well, what has that to do with it? The forest?" - -"WHY, DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WAS AN AFRICAN FOREST?" - -And the monster laughed so loudly and hideously that we could no -longer distinguish Christine's supplicating cries! The Vicomte de -Chagny shouted and banged against the walls like a madman. I could -not restrain him. But we heard nothing except the monster's laughter, -and the monster himself can have heard nothing else. And then there -was the sound of a body falling on the floor and being dragged along -and a door slammed and then nothing, nothing more around us save -the scorching silence of the south in the heart of a tropical forest! - - - -Chapter XXIV Barrels!...Barrels!...Any Barrels to Sell?" - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -I have said that the room in which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I -were imprisoned was a regular hexagon, lined entirely with mirrors. -Plenty of these rooms have been seen since, mainly at exhibitions: -they are called "palaces of illusion," or some such name. -But the invention belongs entirely to Erik, who built the first -room of this kind under my eyes, at the time of the rosy hours -of Mazenderan. A decorative object, such as a column, for instance, -was placed in one of the corners and immediately produced a hall -of a thousand columns; for, thanks to the mirrors, the real room -was multiplied by six hexagonal rooms, each of which, in its turn, -was multiplied indefinitely. But the little sultana soon tired -of this infantile illusion, whereupon Erik altered his invention -into a "torture-chamber." For the architectural motive placed -in one corner, he substituted an iron tree. This tree, with its -painted leaves, was absolutely true to life and was made of iron -so as to resist all the attacks of the "patient" who was locked into -the torture-chamber. We shall see how the scene thus obtained was twice -altered instantaneously into two successive other scenes, by means -of the automatic rotation of the drums or rollers in the corners. -These were divided into three sections, fitting into the angles -of the mirrors and each supporting a decorative scheme that came into -sight as the roller revolved upon its axis. - -The walls of this strange room gave the patient nothing to lay -hold of, because, apart from the solid decorative object, they were -simply furnished with mirrors, thick enough to withstand any onslaught -of the victim, who was flung into the chamber empty-handed and barefoot. - -There was no furniture. The ceiling was capable of being lit up. -An ingenious system of electric heating, which has since been imitated, -allowed the temperature of the walls and room to be increased -at will. - -I am giving all these details of a perfectly natural invention, -producing, with a few painted branches, the supernatural illusion -of an equatorial forest blazing under the tropical sun, so that no -one may doubt the present balance of my brain or feel entitled -to say that I am mad or lying or that I take him for a fool.[11] - ----- -[11] It is very natural that, at the time when the Persian was writing, -he should take so many precautions against any spirit of incredulity -on the part of those who were likely to read his narrative. -Nowadays, when we have all seen this sort of room, his precautions -would be superfluous. - -I now return to the facts where I left them. When the ceiling lit up -and the forest became visible around us, the viscount's stupefaction -was immense. That impenetrable forest, with its innumerable -trunks and branches, threw him into a terrible state of consternation. -He passed his hands over his forehead, as though to drive away a dream; -his eyes blinked; and, for a moment, he forgot to listen. - -I have already said that the sight of the forest did not surprise -me at all; and therefore I listened for the two of us to what was -happening next door. Lastly, my attention was especially attracted, -not so much to the scene, as to the mirrors that produced it. -These mirrors were broken in parts. Yes, they were marked and scratched; -they had been "starred," in spite of their solidity; and this proved -to me that the torture-chamber in which we now were HAD ALREADY -SERVED A PURPOSE. - -Yes, some wretch, whose feet were not bare like those of the victims -of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had certainly fallen into this -"mortal illusion" and, mad with rage, had kicked against those -mirrors which, nevertheless, continued to reflect his agony. -And the branch of the tree on which he had put an end to his own -sufferings was arranged in such a way that, before dying, he had seen, -for his last consolation, a thousand men writhing in his company. - -Yes, Joseph Buquet had undoubtedly been through all this! -Were we to die as he had done? I did not think so, for I knew -that we had a few hours before us and that I could employ them -to better purpose than Joseph Buquet was able to do. After all, -I was thoroughly acquainted with most of Erik's "tricks;" and now -or never was the time to turn my knowledge to account. - -To begin with, I gave up every idea of returning to the passage that -had brought us to that accursed chamber. I did not trouble about -the possibility of working the inside stone that closed the passage; -and this for the simple reason that to do so was out of the question. -We had dropped from too great a height into the torture-chamber; -there was no furniture to help us reach that passage; not even -the branch of the iron tree, not even each other's shoulders were -of any avail. - -There was only one possible outlet, that opening into the Louis-Philippe -room in which Erik and Christine Daae were. But, though this outlet looked -like an ordinary door on Christine's side, it was absolutely invisible -to us. We must therefore try to open it without even knowing where it was. - -When I was quite sure that there was no hope for us from Christine -Daae's side, when I had heard the monster dragging the poor girl from -the Louis-Philippe room LEST SHE SHOULD INTERFERE WITH OUR TORTURES, -I resolved to set to work without delay. - -But I had first to calm M. de Chagny, who was already walking -about like a madman, uttering incoherent cries. The snatches of -conversation which he had caught between Christine and the monster -had contributed not a little to drive him beside himself: -add to that the shock of the magic forest and the scorching heat -which was beginning to make the prespiration{sic} stream down his -temples and you will have no difficulty in understanding his state -of mind. He shouted Christine's name, brandished his pistol, -knocked his forehead against the glass in his endeavors to run -down the glades of the illusive forest. In short, the torture -was beginning to work its spell upon a brain unprepared for it. - -I did my best to induce the poor viscount to listen to reason. -I made him touch the mirrors and the iron tree and the branches -and explained to him, by optical laws, all the luminous imagery -by which we were surrounded and of which we need not allow ourselves -to be the victims, like ordinary, ignorant people. - -"We are in a room, a little room; that is what you must keep saying -to yourself. And we shall leave the room as soon as we have found -the door." - -And I promised him that, if he let me act, without disturbing me -by shouting and walking up and down, I would discover the trick -of the door in less than an hour's time. - -Then he lay flat on the floor, as one does in a wood, and declared -that he would wait until I found the door of the forest, as there -was nothing better to do! And he added that, from where he was, -"the view was splendid!" The torture was working, in spite of all -that I had said. - -Myself, forgetting the forest, I tackled a glass panel and began -to finger it in every direction, hunting for the weak point on which -to press in order to turn the door in accordance with Erik's system -of pivots. This weak point might be a mere speck on the glass, -no larger than a pea, under which the spring lay hidden. -I hunted and hunted. I felt as high as my hands could reach. -Erik was about the same height as myself and I thought that he would -not have placed the spring higher than suited his stature. - -While groping over the successive panels with the greatest care, -I endeavored not to lose a minute, for I was feeling more and more -overcome with the heat and we were literally roasting in that -blazing forest. - -I had been working like this for half an hour and had finished -three panels, when, as ill-luck would have it, I turned round -on hearing a muttered exclamation from the viscount. - -"I am stifling," he said. "All those mirrors are sending out -an infernal heat! Do you think you will find that spring soon? -If you are much longer about it, we shall be roasted alive!" - -I was not sorry to hear him talk like this. He had not said a word -of the forest and I hoped that my companion's reason would hold -out some time longer against the torture. But he added: - -"What consoles me is that the monster has given Christine until -eleven to-morrow evening. If we can't get out of here and go -to her assistance, at least we shall be dead before her! -Then Erik's mass can serve for all of us!" - -And he gulped down a breath of hot air that nearly made him faint. - -As I had not the same desperate reasons as M. le Vicomte for -accepting death, I returned, after giving him a word of encouragement, -to my panel, but I had made the mistake of taking a few steps while -speaking and, in the tangle of the illusive forest, I was no longer -able to find my panel for certain! I had to begin all over again, -at random, feeling, fumbling, groping. - -Now the fever laid hold of me in my turn...for I found nothing, -absolutely nothing. In the next room, all was silence. We were -quite lost in the forest, without an outlet, a compass, a guide -or anything. Oh, I knew what awaited us if nobody came to our aid... -or if I did not find the spring! But, look as I might, I found -nothing but branches, beautiful branches that stood straight up -before me, or spread gracefully over my head. But they gave no shade. -And this was natural enough, as we were in an equatorial forest, -with the sun right above our heads, an African forest. - -M. de Chagny and I had repeatedly taken off our coats and put them -on again, finding at one time that they made us feel still hotter -and at another that they protected us against the heat. I was still -making a moral resistance, but M. de Chagny seemed to me quite "gone." -He pretended that he had been walking in that forest for three -days and nights, without stopping, looking for Christine Daae! -From time to time, he thought he saw her behind the trunk of a tree, -or gliding between the branches; and he called to her with words -of supplication that brought the tears to my eyes. And then, -at last: - -"Oh, how thirsty I am!" he cried, in delirious accents. - -I too was thirsty. My throat was on fire. And, yet, squatting on -the floor, I went on hunting, hunting, hunting for the spring of -the invisible door...especially as it was dangerous to remain -in the forest as evening drew nigh. Already the shades of night -were beginning to surround us. It had happened very quickly: -night falls quickly in tropical countries...suddenly, with hardly -any twilight. - -Now night, in the forests of the equator, is always dangerous, -particularly when, like ourselves, one has not the materials for a -fire to keep off the beasts of prey. I did indeed try for a moment -to break off the branches, which I would have lit with my dark lantern, -but I knocked myself also against the mirrors and remembered, -in time, that we had only images of branches to do with. - -The heat did not go with the daylight; on the contrary, it was now -still hotter under the blue rays of the moon. I urged the viscount -to hold our weapons ready to fire and not to stray from camp, -while I went on looking for my spring. - -Suddenly, we heard a lion roaring a few yards away. - -"Oh," whispered the viscount, "he is quite close!...Don't you -see him?...There...through the trees...in that thicket! -If he roars again, I will fire!..." - -And the roaring began again, louder than before. And the viscount fired, -but I do not think that he hit the lion; only, he smashed a mirror, -as I perceived the next morning, at daybreak. We must have covered -a good distance during the night, for we suddenly found ourselves on -the edge of the desert, an immense desert of sand, stones and rocks. -It was really not worth while leaving the forest to come upon -the desert. Tired out, I flung myself down beside the viscount, -for I had had enough of looking for springs which I could not find. - -I was quite surprised--and I said so to the viscount--that we -had encountered no other dangerous animals during the night. -Usually, after the lion came the leopard and sometimes the buzz -of the tsetse fly. These were easily obtained effects; and I -explained to M. de Chagny that Erik imitated the roar of a lion -on a long tabour or timbrel, with an ass's skin at one end. -Over this skin he tied a string of catgut, which was fastened -at the middle to another similar string passing through the whole -length of the tabour. Erik had only to rub this string with a glove -smeared with resin and, according to the manner in which he rubbed it, -he imitated to perfection the voice of the lion or the leopard, -or even the buzzing of the tsetse fly. - -The idea that Erik was probably in the room beside us, working his trick, -made me suddenly resolve to enter into a parley with him, for we -must obviously give up all thought of taking him by surprise. -And by this time he must be quite aware who were the occupants -of his torture-chamber. I called him: "Erik! Erik!" - -I shouted as loudly as I could across the desert, but there was no answer -to my voice. All around us lay the silence and the bare immensity of that -stony desert. What was to become of us in the midst of that awful solitude? - -We were beginning literally to die of heat, hunger and thirst... -of thirst especially. At last, I saw M. de Chagny raise himself -on his elbow and point to a spot on the horizon. He had discovered -an oasis! - -Yes, far in the distance was an oasis...an oasis with limpid water, -which reflected the iron trees!...Tush, it was the scene of -the mirage....I recognized it at once...the worst of the -three!...No one had been able to fight against it...no one. -...I did my utmost to keep my head AND NOT TO HOPE FOR WATER, -because I knew that, if a man hoped for water, the water that -reflected the iron tree, and if, after hoping for water, he struck -against the mirror, then there was only one thing for him to do: -to hang himself on the iron tree! - -So I cried to M. de Chagny: - -"It's the mirage!...It's the mirage!...Don't believe -in the water!...It's another trick of the mirrors!..." - -Then he flatly told me to shut up, with my tricks of the mirrors, -my springs, my revolving doors and my palaces of illusions! -He angrily declared that I must be either blind or mad to imagine -that all that water flowing over there, among those splendid, -numberless trees, was not real water!...And the desert was real! -...And so was the forest!...And it was no use trying to take -him in...he was an old, experienced traveler...he had been -all over the place! - -And he dragged himself along, saying: "Water! Water!" - -And his mouth was open, as though he were drinking. - -And my mouth was open too, as though I were drinking. - -For we not only saw the water, but WE HEARD IT!...We heard -it flow, we heard it ripple!...Do you understand that word -"ripple?"...IT IS A SOUND WHICH YOU HEAR WITH YOUR TONGUE! -...You put your tongue out of your mouth to listen to it better! - -Lastly--and this was the most pitiless torture of all--we heard -the rain and it was not raining! This was an infernal invention. -...Oh, I knew well enough how Erik obtained it! He filled -with little stones a very long and narrow box, broken up inside -with wooden and metal projections. The stones, in falling, -struck against these projections and rebounded from one to another; -and the result was a series of pattering sounds that exactly imitated -a rainstorm. - -Ah, you should have seen us putting out our tongues and dragging ourselves -toward the rippling river-bank! Our eyes and ears were full of water, -but our tongues were hard and dry as horn! - -When we reached the mirror, M.de Chagny licked it...and I -also licked the glass. - -It was burning hot! - -Then we rolled on the floor with a hoarse cry of despair. -M. de Chagny put the one pistol that was still loaded to his temple; -and I stared at the Punjab lasso at the foot of the iron tree. -I knew why the iron tree had returned, in this third change of scene!... -The iron tree was waiting for me!... - -But, as I stared at the Punjab lasso, I saw a thing that made me -start so violently that M. de Chagny delayed his attempt at suicide. -I took his arm. And then I caught the pistol from him...and then -I dragged myself on my knees toward what I had seen. - -I had discovered, near the Punjab lasso, in a groove in the floor, -a black-headed nail of which I knew the use. At last I had discovered -the spring! I felt the nail....I lifted a radiant face to -M. de Chagny....The black-headed nail yielded to my pressure.... - -And then.... - -And then we saw not a door opened in the wall, but a cellar-flap -released in the floor. Cool air came up to us from the black -hole below. We stooped over that square of darkness as though over -a limpid well. With our chins in the cool shade, we drank it in. -And we bent lower and lower over the trap-door. What could there -be in that cellar which opened before us? Water? Water to drink? - -I thrust my arm into the darkness and came upon a stone and another -stone...a staircase...a dark staircase leading into the cellar. -The viscount wanted to fling himself down the hole; but I, -fearing a new trick of the monster's, stopped him, turned on -my dark lantern and went down first. - -The staircase was a winding one and led down into pitchy darkness. -But oh, how deliciously cool were the darkness and the stairs? -The lake could not be far away. - -We soon reached the bottom. Our eyes were beginning to accustom -themselves to the dark, to distinguish shapes around us... -circular shapes...on which I turned the light of my lantern. - -Barrels! - -We were in Erik's cellar: it was here that he must keep his wine -and perhaps his drinking-water. I knew that Erik was a great lover -of good wine. Ah, there was plenty to drink here! - -M. de Chagny patted the round shapes and kept on saying: - -"Barrels! Barrels! What a lot of barrels!..." - -Indeed, there was quite a number of them, symmetrically arranged -in two rows, one on either side of us. They were small barrels -and I thought that Erik must have selected them of that size -to facilitate their carriage to the house on the lake. - -We examined them successively, to see if one of them had not -a funnel, showing that it had been tapped at some time or another. -But all the barrels were hermetically closed. - -Then, after half lifting one to make sure it was full, we went -on our knees and, with the blade of a small knife which I carried, -I prepared to stave in the bung-hole. - -At that moment, I seemed to hear, coming from very far, a sort -of monotonous chant which I knew well, from often hearing it -in the streets of Paris: - -"Barrels!...Barrels!...Any barrels to sell? - -My hand desisted from its work. M. de Chagny had also heard. -He said: - -"That's funny! It sounds as if the barrel were singing!" - -The song was renewed, farther away: - -"Barrels!...Barrels!...Any barrels to sell?..." - -"Oh, I swear," said the viscount, "that the tune dies away -in the barrel!..." - -We stood up and went to look behind the barrel. - -"It's inside," said M. de Chagny, "it's inside!" - -But we heard nothing there and were driven to accuse the bad condition -of our senses. And we returned to the bung-hole. M. de Chagny -put his two hands together underneath it and, with a last effort, -I burst the bung. - -"What's this?" cried the viscount. "This isn't water!" - -The viscount put his two full hands close to my lantern....I -stooped to look...and at once threw away the lantern with such -violence that it broke and went out, leaving us in utter darkness. - -What I had seen in M. de Chagny's hands...was gun-powder! - - - -Chapter XXV The Scorpion or the Grasshopper: Which? - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONCLUDED - -The discovery flung us into a state of alarm that made us forget all -our past and present sufferings. We now knew all that the monster -meant to convey when he said to Christine Daae: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -Yes, buried under the ruins of the Paris Grand Opera I - -The monster had given her until eleven o'clock in the evening. -He had chosen his time well. There would be many people, many -"members of the human race," up there, in the resplendent theater. -What finer retinue could be expected for his funeral? He would go -down to the tomb escorted by the whitest shoulders in the world, -decked with the richest jewels. - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -We were all to be blown up in the middle of the performance... -if Christine Daae said no! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!... - -And what else could Christine say but no? Would she not prefer -to espouse death itself rather than that living corpse? She did -not know that on her acceptance or refusal depended the awful fate -of many members of the human race! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -And we dragged ourselves through the darkness, feeling our way -to the stone steps, for the light in the trap-door overhead that -led to the room of mirrors was now extinguished; and we repeated -to ourselves: - -"Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!" - -At last, I found the staircase. But, suddenly I drew myself up -on the first step, for a terrible thought had come to my mind: - -"What is the time?" - -Ah, what was the time?...For, after all, eleven o'clock to-morrow -evening might be now, might be this very moment! Who could tell us -the time? We seemed to have been imprisoned in that hell for days -and days...for years...since the beginning of the world. -Perhaps we should be blown up then and there! Ah, a sound! A crack! -"Did you hear that?...There, in the corner...good heavens!... -Like a sound of machinery!...Again!...Oh, for a light!... -Perhaps it's the machinery that is to blow everything up!... -I tell you, a cracking sound: are you deaf?" - -M. de Chagny and I began to yell like madmen. Fear spurred us on. -We rushed up the treads of the staircase, stumbling as we went, -anything to escape the dark, to return to the mortal light of the room -of mirrors! - -We found the trap-door still open, but it was now as dark -in the room of mirrors as in the cellar which we had left. -We dragged ourselves along the floor of the torture-chamber, the floor -that separated us from the powder-magazine. What was the time? -We shouted, we called: M. de Chagny to Christine, I to Erik. -I reminded him that I had saved his life. But no answer, save that -of our despair, of our madness:what was the time? We argued, -we tried to calculate the time which we had spent there, but we were -incapable of reasoning. If only we could see the face of a watch!... -Mine had stopped, but M. de Chagny's was still going... -He told me that he had wound it up before dressing for the Opera.... -We had not a match upon us....And yet we must know.... -M. de Chagny broke the glass of his watch and felt the two hands. -...He questioned the hands of the watch with his finger-tips, -going by the position of the ring of the watch....Judging -by the space between the hands, he thought it might be just eleven -o'clock! - -But perhaps it was not the eleven o'clock of which we stood in dread. -Perhaps we had still twelve hours before us! - -Suddenly, I exclaimed: "Hush!" - -I seemed to hear footsteps in the next room. Some one tapped -against the wall. Christine Daae's voice said: - -"Raoul! Raoul!" We were now all talking at once, on either side -of the wall. Christine sobbed; she was not sure that she would -find M. de Chagny alive. The monster had been terrible, it seemed, -had done nothing but rave, waiting for her to give him the "yes" -which she refused. And yet she had promised him that "yes," if he -would take her to the torture-chamber. But he had obstinately declined, -and had uttered hideous threats against all the members of the -human race! At last, after hours and hours of that hell, he had -that moment gone out, leaving her alone to reflect for the last time. - -"Hours and hours? What is the time now? What is the time, Christine?" - -"It is eleven o'clock! Eleven o'clock, all but five minutes!" - -"But which eleven o'clock?" - -"The eleven o'clock that is to decide life or death!...He told me -so just before he went....He is terrible....He is quite mad: -he tore off his mask and his yellow eyes shot flames!...He did -nothing but laugh!...He said, `I give you five minutes to spare -your blushes! Here,' he said, taking a key from the little bag -of life and death, `here is the little bronze key that opens the two -ebony caskets on the mantelpiece in the Louis-Philippe room. -...In one of the caskets, you will find a scorpion, in the other, -a grasshopper, both very cleverly imitated in Japanese bronze: -they will say yes or no for you. If you turn the scorpion round, -that will mean to me, when I return, that you have said yes. -The grasshopper will mean no.' And he laughed like a drunken demon. -I did nothing but beg and entreat him to give me the key of -the torture-chamber, promising to be his wife if he granted me -that request....But he told me that there was no future need -for that key and that he was going to throw it into the lake!... -And he again laughed like a drunken demon and left me. Oh, his last -words were, `The grasshopper! Be careful of the grasshopper! -A grasshopper does not only turn: it hops! It hops! And it hops -jolly high!'" - -The five minutes had nearly elapsed and the scorpion and the grasshopper -were scratching at my brain. Nevertheless, I had sufficient -lucidity left to understand that, if the grasshopper were turned, -it would hop...and with it many members of the human race! -There was no doubt but that the grasshopper controlled an electric -current intended to blow up the powder-magazine! - -M. de Chagny, who seemed to have recovered all his moral force -from hearing Christine's voice, explained to her, in a few -hurried words, the situation in which we and all the Opera were. -He told her to turn the scorpion at once. - -There was a pause. - -"Christine," I cried, "where are you?" - -"By the scorpion." - -"Don't touch it!" - -The idea had come to me--for I knew my Erik--that the monster had -perhaps deceived the girl once more. Perhaps it was the scorpion -that would blow everything up. After all, why wasn't he there? -The five minutes were long past...and he was not back. -...Perhaps he had taken shelter and was waiting for the explosion! -...Why had he not returned?...He could not really expect -Christine ever to consent to become his voluntary prey!...Why -had he not returned? - -"Don't touch the scorpion!" I said. - -"Here he comes!" cried Christine. "I hear him! Here he is!" - -We heard his steps approaching the Louis-Philippe room. He came -up to Christine, but did not speak. Then I raised my voice: - -"Erik! It is I! Do you know me?" - -With extraordinary calmness, he at once replied: - -"So you are not dead in there? Well, then, see that you keep quiet." - -I tried to speak, but he said coldly: - -"Not a word, daroga, or I shall blow everything up." And he added, -"The honor rests with mademoiselle....Mademoiselle has not -touched the scorpion"--how deliberately he spoke!--"mademoiselle -has not touched the grasshopper"--with that composure!--"but it -is not too late to do the right thing. There, I open the caskets -without a key, for I am a trap-door lover and I open and shut -what I please and as I please. I open the little ebony caskets: -mademoiselle, look at the little dears inside. Aren't they pretty? -If you turn the grasshopper, mademoiselle, we shall all be blown up. -There is enough gun-powder under our feet to blow up a whole quarter -of Paris. If you turn the scorpion, mademoiselle, all that powder -will be soaked and drowned. Mademoiselle, to celebrate our wedding, -you shall make a very handsome present to a few hundred Parisians -who are at this moment applauding a poor masterpiece of Meyerbeer's -...you shall make them a present of their lives....For, -with your own fair hands, you shall turn the scorpion.... -And merrily, merrily, we will be married!" - -A pause; and then: - -"If, in two minutes, mademoiselle, you have not turned the scorpion, -I shall turn the grasshopper...and the grasshopper, I tell you, -HOPS JOLLY HIGH!" - -The terrible silence began anew. The Vicomte de Chagny, -realizing that there was nothing left to do but pray, went down -on his knees and prayed. As for me, my blood beat so fiercely -that I had to take my heart in both hands, lest it should burst. -At last, we heard Erik's voice: - -"The two minutes are past....Good-by, mademoiselle. -...Hop, grasshopper! "Erik," cried Christine, "do you swear -to me, monster, do you swear to me that the scorpion is the one to turn? - -"Yes, to hop at our wedding." - -"Ah, you see! You said, to hop!" - -"At our wedding, ingenuous child!...The scorpion opens the ball. -...But that will do!...You won't have the scorpion? Then I -turn the grasshopper!" - -"Erik!" - -"Enough!" - -I was crying out in concert with Christine. M. de Chagny was still -on his knees, praying. - -"Erik! I have turned the scorpion!" - -Oh, the second through which we passed! - -Waiting! Waiting to find ourselves in fragments, amid the roar -and the ruins! - -Feeling something crack beneath our feet, hearing an appalling hiss -through the open trap-door, a hiss like the first sound of a rocket! - -It came softly, at first, then louder, then very loud. But it -was not the hiss of fire. It was more like the hiss of water. -And now it became a gurgling sound: "Guggle! Guggle!" - -We rushed to the trap-door. All our thirst, which vanished when -the terror came, now returned with the lapping of the water. - -The water rose in the cellar, above the barrels, the powder-barrels--"Barrels! -...Barrels! Any barrels to sell?"--and we went down to it -with parched throats. It rose to our chins, to our mouths. -And we drank. We stood on the floor of the cellar and drank. And -we went up the stairs again in the dark, step by step, went up with the water. - -The water came out of the cellar with us and spread over the floor -of the room. If, this went on, the whole house on the lake would -be swamped. The, floor of the torture-chamber had itself become -a regular little lake, in which our feet splashed. Surely there -was water enough now! Erik must turn off the tap! - -"Erik! Erik! That is water enough for the gunpowder! Turn off -the tap! Turn off the scorpion!" - -But Erik did not reply. We heard nothing but the water rising: -it was half-way to our waists! - -"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny. "Christine! The water is up -to our knees!" - -But Christine did not reply....We heard nothing but the water rising. - -No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one -to turn the scorpion! - -We were all alone, in the dark, with the dark water that seized us -and clasped us and froze us! - -"Erik! Erik!" - -"Christine! Christine!" - -By this time, we had lost our foothold and were spinning round -in the water, carried away by an irresistible whirl, for the water -turned with us and dashed us against the dark mirror, which thrust -us back again; and our throats, raised above the whirlpool, -roared aloud. - -Were we to die here, drowned in the torture-chamber? I had never -seen that. Erik, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, -had never shown me that, through the little invisible window. - -"Erik! Erik!" I cried. "I saved your life! Remember!...You -were sentenced to death! But for me, you would be dead now!... -Erik!" - -We whirled around, in the water like so much wreckage. -But, suddenly, my straying hands seized the trunk of the iron tree! -I called M. de Chagny, and we both hung to the branch of the iron tree. - -And the water rose still higher. - -"Oh! Oh! Can you remember? How much space is there between the branch -of the tree and the dome-shaped ceiling? Do try to remember!... -After all, the water may stop, it must find its level!...There, -I think it is stopping!...No, no, oh, horrible!...Swim! -Swim for your life!" - -Our arms became entangled in the effort of swimming; we choked; -we fought in the dark water; already we could hardly breathe the dark -air above the dark water, the air which escaped, which we could hear -escaping through some vent-hole or other. - -"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole -and then glue our mouths to it!" - -But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! -Oh, how those glass walls slipped from under my groping -fingers!...We whirled round again!...We began to sink! -...One last effort!...A last cry: "Erik!...Christine!..." - -"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the -bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!" - -And, before losing consciousness entirely, I seemed to hear, -between two guggles: - -"Barrels! Barrels! Any barrels to sell?" - - - -Chapter XXVI The End of the Ghost's Love Story - - -The previous chapter marks the conclusion of the written narrative -which the Persian left behind him. - -Notwithstanding the horrors of a situation which seemed definitely -to abandon them to their deaths, M. de Chagny and his companion -were saved by the sublime devotion of Christine Daae. And I -had the rest of the story from the lips of the daroga himself. - -When I went to see him, he was still living in his little flat -in the Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries. He was very ill, -and it required all my ardor as an historian pledged to the truth to -persuade him to live the incredible tragedy over again for my benefit. -His faithful old servant Darius showed me in to him. The daroga -received me at a window overlooking the garden of the Tuileries. -He still had his magnificent eyes, but his poor face looked very worn. -He had shaved the whole of his head, which was usually covered with -an astrakhan cap; he was dressed in a long, plain coat and amused -himself by unconsciously twisting his thumbs inside the sleeves; -but his mind was quite clear, and he told me his story with -perfect lucidity. - -It seems that, when he opened his eyes, the daroga found himself -lying on a bed. M. de Chagny was on a sofa, beside the wardrobe. -An angel and a devil were watching over them. - -After the deceptions and illusions of the torture-chamber, the precision -of the details of that quiet little middle-class room seemed to have -been invented for the express purpose of puzzling the mind of the -mortal rash enough to stray into that abode of living nightmare. -The wooden bedstead, the waxed mahogany chairs, the chest of drawers, -those brasses, the little square antimacassars carefully placed -on the backs of the chairs, the clock on the mantelpiece and the -harmless-looking ebony caskets at either end, lastly, the whatnot -filled with shells, with red pin-cushions, with mother-of-pearl boats -and an enormous ostrich-egg, the whole discreetly lighted by a shaded -lamp standing on a small round table: this collection of ugly, -peaceable, reasonable furniture, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OPERA CELLARS, -bewildered the imagination more than all the late fantastic happenings. - -And the figure of the masked man seemed all the more formidable -in this old-fashioned, neat and trim little frame. It bent down -over the Persian and said, in his ear: - -"Are you better, daroga?...You are looking at my furniture?... -It is all that I have left of my poor unhappy mother." - -Christine Daae did not say a word: she moved about noiselessly, -like a sister of charity, who had taken a vow of silence. -She brought a cup of cordial, or of hot tea, he did not remember which. -The man in the mask took it from her hands and gave it to the Persian. -M. de Chagny was still sleeping. - -Erik poured a drop of rum into the daroga's cup and, pointing to -the viscount, said: - -"He came to himself long before we knew if you were still alive, -daroga. He is quite well. He is asleep. We must not wake him." - -Erik left the room for a moment, and the Persian raised himself -on his elbow, looked around him and saw Christine Daae sitting -by the fireside. He spoke to her, called her, but he was -still very weak and fell back on his pillow. Christine came -to him, laid her hand on his forehead and went away again. -And the Persian remembered that, as she went, she did not give -a glance at M. de Chagny, who, it is true, was sleeping peacefully; -and she sat down again in her chair by the chimney-corner, -silent as a sister of charity who had taken a vow of silence. - -Erik returned with some little bottles which he placed on -the mantelpiece. And, again in a whisper, so as not to wake M. de -Chagny, he said to the Persian, after sitting down and feeling his pulse: - -"You are now saved, both of you. And soon I shall take you up -to the surface of the earth, TO PLEASE MY WIFE." - -Thereupon he rose, without any further explanation, and disappeared -once more. - -The Persian now looked at Christine's quiet profile under the lamp. -She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book. -There are editions of THE IMITATION that look like that. The Persian -still had in his ears the natural tone in which the other had said, -"to please my wife." Very gently, he called her again; but Christine -was wrapped up in her book and did not hear him. - -Erik returned, mixed the daroga a draft and advised him not to speak to -"his wife" again nor to any one, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUS -TO EVERYBODY'S HEALTH. - -Eventually, the Persian fell asleep, like M. de Chagny, and did not -wake until he was in his own room, nursed by his faithful Darius, -who told him that, on the night before, he was found propped against -the door of his flat, where he had been brought by a stranger, -who rang the bell before going away. - -As soon as the daroga recovered his strength and his wits, he sent -to Count Philippe's house to inquire after the viscount's health. -The answer was that the young man had not been seen and that Count -Philippe was dead. His body was found on the bank of the Opera lake, -on the Rue-Scribe side. The Persian remembered the requiem mass -which he had heard from behind the wall of the torture-chamber, -and had no doubt concerning the crime and the criminal. -Knowing Erik as he did, he easily reconstructed the tragedy. -Thinking that his brother had run away with Christine Daae, -Philippe had dashed in pursuit of him along the Brussels Road, -where he knew that everything was prepared for the elopement. -Failing to find the pair, he hurried back to the Opera, remembered -Raoul's strange confidence about his fantastic rival and learned -that the viscount had made every effort to enter the cellars of -the theater and that he had disappeared, leaving his hat in the prima -donna's dressing-room beside an empty pistol-case. And the count, -who no longer entertained any doubt of his brother's madness, in his -turn darted into that infernal underground maze. This was enough, -in the Persian's eyes, to explain the discovery of the Comte -de Chagny's corpse on the shore of the lake, where the siren, -Erik's siren, kept watch. - -The Persian did not hesitate. He determined to inform the police. -Now the case was in the hands of an examining-magistrate called Faure, -an incredulous, commonplace, superficial sort of person, (I write -as I think), with a mind utterly unprepared to receive a confidence -of this kind. M. Faure took down the daroga's depositions and -proceeded to treat him as a madman. - -Despairing of ever obtaining a hearing, the Persian sat down to write. -As the police did not want his evidence, perhaps the press would be -glad of it; and he had just written the last line of the narrative -I have quoted in the preceding chapters, when Darius announced -the visit of a stranger who refused his name, who would not show -his face and declared simply that he did not intend to leave -the place until he had spoken to the daroga. - -The Persian at once felt who his singular visitor was and ordered -him to be shown in. The daroga was right. It was the ghost, -it was Erik! - -He looked extremely weak and leaned against the wall, as though he -were afraid of falling. Taking off his hat, he revealed a forehead -white as wax. The rest of the horrible face was hidden by the mask. - -The Persian rose to his feet as Erik entered. - -"Murderer of Count Philippe, what have you done with his brother -and Christine Daae?" - -Erik staggered under this direct attack, kept silent for a moment, -dragged himself to a chair and heaved a deep sigh. Then, speaking in -short phrases and gasping for breath between the words: - -"Daroga, don't talk to me...about Count Philippe....He was dead... -by the time...I left my house...he was dead... when... -the siren sang....It was an...accident...a sad...a very sad -...accident. He fell very awkwardly... but simply and naturally... -into the lake!..." - -"You lie!" shouted the Persian. - -Erik bowed his head and said: - -"I have not come here...to talk about Count Philippe... -but to tell you that...I am going...to die. ..." - -"Where are Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"I am going to die. - -"Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"Of love...daroga...I am dying...of love...That is how it is.... -loved her so!...And I love her still...daroga...and I am dying -of love for her, I...I tell you!...If you knew how beautiful she was... -when she let me kiss her...alive...It was the first...time, daroga, -the first...time I ever kissed a woman.... Yes, alive....I kissed her alive -...and she looked as beautiful as if she had been dead! - -The Persian shook Erik by the arm: - -"Will you tell me if she is alive or dead." - -"Why do you shake me like that?" asked Erik, making an effort -to speak more connectedly. "I tell you that I am going to die. -...Yes, I kissed her alive...." - -"And now she is dead?" - -"I tell you I kissed her just like that, on her forehead... -and she did not draw back her forehead from my lips!...Oh, -she is a good girl!...As to her being dead, I don't think so; -but it has nothing to do with me....No, no, she is not dead! -And no one shall touch a hair of her head! She is a good, -honest girl, and she saved your life, daroga, at a moment when I -would not have given twopence for your Persian skin. As a matter -of fact, nobody bothered about you. Why were you there with -that little chap? You would have died as well as he! My word, -how she entreated me for her little chap! But I told her that, -as she had turned the scorpion, she had, through that very fact, -and of her own free will, become engaged to me and that she did -not need to have two men engaged to her, which was true enough. - -"As for you, you did not exist, you had ceased to exist, I tell you, -and you were going to die with the other!...Only, mark me, -daroga, when you were yelling like the devil, because of the water, -Christine came to me with her beautiful blue eyes wide open, and swore -to me, as she hoped to be saved, that she consented to be MY LIVING -WIFE!...Until then, in the depths of her eyes, daroga, I had -always seen my dead wife; it was the first time I saw MY LIVING -WIFE there. She was sincere, as she hoped to be saved. She would -not kill herself. It was a bargain....Half a minute later, -all the water was back in the lake; and I had a hard job with you, -daroga, for, upon my honor, I thought you were done for!... -However!...There you were!...It was understood that I was -to take you both up to the surface of the earth. When, at last, -I cleared the Louis-Philippe room of you, I came back alone...." - -"What have you done with the Vicomte de Chagny?" asked the Persian, -interrupting him. - -"Ah, you see, daroga, I couldn't carry HIM up like that, at once. -...He was a hostage....But I could not keep him in the house on -the lake, either, because of Christine; so I locked him up comfortably, -I chained him up nicely--a whiff of the Mazenderan scent had left him -as limp as a rag--in the Communists' dungeon, which is in the most -deserted and remote part of the Opera, below the fifth cellar, -where no one ever comes, and where no one ever hears you. -Then I came back to Christine, she was waiting for me. - -Erik here rose solemnly. Then he continued, but, as he spoke, -he was overcome by all his former emotion and began to tremble -like a leaf: - -"Yes, she was waiting for me...waiting for me erect and alive, -a real, living bride...as she hoped to be saved....And, -when I...came forward, more timid than...a little child, -she did not run away...no, no...she stayed...she waited -for me....I even believe...daroga...that she put out -her forehead...a little...oh, not much...just a little... -like a living bride....And...and...I...kissed her!... -I!...I!...I!...And she did not die!...Oh, how good it is, -daroga, to kiss somebody on the forehead!...You can't tell!... -But I! I!...My mother, daroga, my poor, unhappy mother would never -...let me kiss her....She used to run away...and throw me my mask! -...Nor any other woman...ever, ever!...Ah, you can understand, -my happiness was so great, I cried. And I fell at her feet, crying -...and I kissedher feet...her little feet...crying. You're crying, too, -daroga...and she cried also...the angel cried!..." Erik -sobbed aloud and the Persian himself could not retain his tears -in the presence of that masked man, who, with his shoulders shaking -and his hands clutched at his chest, was moaning with pain and love -by turns. - -"Yes, daroga...I felt her tears flow on my forehead...on mine, -mine!...They were soft...they were sweet!...They trickled -under my mask...they mingled with my tears in my eyes...yes -...they flowed between my lips....Listen, daroga, listen to -what I did....I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her -tears...and she did not run away!...And she did not die!... -She remained alive, weeping over me, with me. We cried together! -I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer!" - -And Erik fell into a chair, choking for breath: - -"Ah, I am not going to die yet...presently I shall...but let -me cry!...Listen, daroga...listen to this....While -I was at her feet...I heard her say, `Poor, unhappy Erik!' -... AND SHE TOOK MY HAND!...I had become no more, you know, -than a poor dog ready to die for her....I mean it, daroga!... -I held in my hand a ring, a plain gold ring which I had given her -...which she had lost...and which I had found again... -a wedding-ring, you know....I slipped it into her little hand -and said, `There!...Take it!...Take it for you...and him! -...It shall be my wedding-present a present from your poor, -unhappy Erik.....I know you love the boy...don't cry any more! -...She asked me, in a very soft voice, what I meant.... -Then I made her understand that, where she was concerned, -I was only a poor dog, ready to die for her...but that she could -marry the young man when she pleased, because she had cried with me -and mingled her tears with mine!..." - -Erik's emotion was so great that he had to tell the Persian not -to look at him, for he was choking and must take off his mask. -The daroga went to the window and opened it. His heart was full -of pity, but he took care to keep his eyes fixed on the trees in -the Tuileries gardens, lest he should see the monster's face. - -"I went and released the young man," Erik continued, "and told -him to come with me to Christine....They kissed before me -in the Louis-Philippe room....Christine had my ring.... -I made Christine swear to come back, one night, when I was dead, -crossing the lake from the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest -secrecy with the gold ring, which she was to wear until that moment. -...I told her where she would find my body and what to do with it. -...Then Christine kissed me, for the first time, herself, here, -on the forehead--don't look, daroga!--here, on the forehead...on -my forehead, mine--don't look, daroga!--and they went off together. -...Christine had stopped crying....I alone cried....Daroga, daroga, -if Christine keeps her promise, she will come back soon!..." - -The Persian asked him no questions. He was quite reassured -as to the fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could -have doubted the word of the weeping Erik that night. - -The monster resumed his mask and collected his strength to leave -the daroga. He told him that, when he felt his end to be very -near at hand, he would send him, in gratitude for the kindness -which the Persian had once shown him, that which he held dearest -in the world: all Christine Daae's papers, which she had written -for Raoul's benefit and left with Erik, together with a few -objects belonging to her, such as a pair of gloves, a shoe-buckle -and two pocket-handkerchiefs. In reply to the Persian's questions, -Erik told him that the two young people, at soon as they found -themselves free, had resolved to go and look for a priest in some -lonely spot where they could hide their happiness and that, -with this object in view, they had started from "the northern -railway station of the world." Lastly, Erik relied on the Persian, -as soon as he received the promised relics and papers, to inform -the young couple of his death and to advertise it in the EPOQUE. - -That was all. The Persian saw Erik to the door of his flat, -and Darius helped him down to the street. A cab was waiting for him. -Erik stepped in; and the Persian, who had gone back to the window, -heard him say to the driver: - -"Go to the Opera." - -And the cab drove off into the night. - -The Persian had seen the poor, unfortunate Erik for the last time. -Three weeks later, the Epoque published this advertisement: - -"Erik is dead." - - - -Epilogue. - - -I have now told the singular, but veracious story of the Opera ghost. -As I declared on the first page of this work, it is no longer possible -to deny that Erik really lived. There are to-day so many proofs -of his existence within the reach of everybody that we can follow -Erik's actions logically through the whole tragedy of the Chagnys. - -There is no need to repeat here how greatly the case excited the capital. -The kidnapping of the artist, the death of the Comte de Chagny -under such exceptional conditions, the disappearance of his brother, -the drugging of the gas-man at the Opera and of his two assistants: -what tragedies, what passions, what crimes had surrounded the idyll -of Raoul and the sweet and charming Christine!...What had become -of that wonderful, mysterious artist of whom the world was never, -never to hear again?...She was represented as the victim of a -rivalry between the two brothers; and nobody suspected what had -really happened, nobody understood that, as Raoul and Christine -had both disappeared, both had withdrawn far from the world to -enjoy a happiness which they would not have cared to make public -after the inexplicable death of Count Philippe....They took -the train one day from "the northern railway station of the world." -...Possibly, I too shall take the train at that station, one day, -and go and seek around thy lakes, O Norway, O silent Scandinavia, -for the perhaps still living traces of Raoul and Christine and also -of Mamma Valerius, who disappeared at the same time!...Possibly, -some day, I shall hear the lonely echoes of the North repeat -the singing of her who knew the Angel of Music!... - -Long after the case was pigeonholed by the unintelligent care -of M. le Juge d'Instruction Faure, the newspapers made efforts, -at intervals, to fathom the mystery. One evening paper alone, -which knew all the gossip of the theaters, said: - -"We recognize the touch of the Opera ghost." - -And even that was written by way of irony. - -The Persian alone knew the whole truth and held the main proofs, -which came to him with the pious relics promised by the ghost. It fell -to my lot to complete those proofs with the aid of the daroga himself. -Day by day, I kept him informed of the progress of my inquiries; -and he directed them. He had not been to the Opera for years and years, -but he had preserved the most accurate recollection of the building, -and there was no better guide than he possible to help me discover -its most secret recesses. He also told me where to gather further -information, whom to ask; and he sent me to call on M. Poligny, -at a moment when the poor man was nearly drawing his last breath. -I had no idea that he was so very ill, and I shall never forget -the effect which my questions about the ghost produced upon him. -He looked at me as if I were the devil and answered only in a few -incoherent sentences, which showed, however--and that was the main thing-- -the extent of the perturbation which O. G., in his time, had brought -into that already very restless life (for M. Poligny was what people -call a man of pleasure). - -When I came and told the Persian of the poor result of my visit -to M. Poligny, the daroga gave a faint smile and said: - -"Poligny never knew how far that extraordinary blackguard of an Erik -humbugged him."--The Persian, by the way, spoke of Erik sometimes -as a demigod and sometimes as the lowest of the low--"Poligny -was superstitious and Erik knew it. Erik knew most things about -the public and private affairs of the Opera. When M. Poligny heard -a mysterious voice tell him, in Box Five, of the manner in which he -used to spend his time and abuse his partner's confidence, he did -not wait to hear any more. Thinking at first that it was a voice -from Heaven, he believed himself damned; and then, when the voice -began to ask for money, he saw that he was being victimized by a -shrewd blackmailer to whom Debienne himself had fallen a prey. -Both of them, already tired of management for various reasons, -went away without trying to investigate further into the personality -of that curious O. G., who had forced such a singular memorandum-book -upon them. They bequeathed the whole mystery to their successors -and heaved a sigh of relief when they were rid of a business -that had puzzled them without amusing them in the least." - -I then spoke of the two successors and expressed my surprise that, -in his Memoirs of a Manager, M. Moncharmin should describe the Opera -ghost's behavior at such length in the first part of the book and hardly -mention it at all in the second. In reply to this, the Persian, -who knew the MEMOIRS as thoroughly as if he had written them himself, -observed that I should find the explanation of the whole business -if I would just recollect the few lines which Moncharmin devotes -to the ghost in the second part aforesaid. I quote these lines, -which are particularly interesting because they describe the very -simple manner in Which the famous incident of the twenty-thousand -francs was closed: - -"As for O. G., some of whose curious tricks I have related in the -first part of my Memoirs, I will only say that he redeemed by one -spontaneous fine action all the worry which he had caused my dear -friend and partner and, I am bound to say, myself. He felt, no doubt, -that there are limits to a joke, especially when it is so expensive -and when the commissary of police has been informed, for, at the moment -when we had made an appointment in our office with M. Mifroid to tell him -the whole story, a few days after the disappearance of Christine Daae, -we found, on Richard's table, a large envelope, inscribed, in red ink, -"WITH O. G.'S COMPLIMENTS." It contained the large sum of money -which he had succeeded in playfully extracting, for the time being, -from the treasury. Richard was at once of the opinion that we must -be content with that and drop the business. I agreed with Richard. -All's well that ends well. What do you say, O. G.?" - -Of course, Moncharmin, especially after the money had been restored, -continued to believe that he had, for a short while, been the butt -of Richard's sense of humor, whereas Richard, on his side, -was convinced that Moncharmin had amused himself by inventing -the whole of the affair of the Opera ghost, in order to revenge -himself for a few jokes. - -I asked the Persian to tell me by what trick the ghost had taken -twenty-thousand francs from Richard's pocket in spite of the -safety-pin. He replied that he had not gone into this little detail, -but that, if I myself cared to make an investigation on the spot, -I should certainly find the solution to the riddle in the managers' -office by remembering that Erik had not been nicknamed the trap-door -lover for nothing. I promised the Persian to do so as soon as I -had time, and I may as well tell the reader at once that the results -of my investigation were perfectly satisfactory; and I hardly -believed that I should ever discover so many undeniable proofs -of the authenticity of the feats ascribed to the ghost. - -The Persian's manuscript, Christine Daae's papers, the statements made -to me by the people who used to work under MM. Richard and Moncharmin, -by little Meg herself (the worthy Madame Giry, I am sorry to say, is no more) -and by Sorelli, who is now living in retirement at Louveciennes: -all the documents relating to the existence of the ghost, which I -propose to deposit in the archives of the Opera, have been checked -and confirmed by a number of important discoveries of which I am -justly proud. I have not been able to find the house on the lake, -Erik having blocked up all the secret entrances.[12] On the other hand, -I have discovered the secret passage of the Communists, the planking -of which is falling to pieces in parts, and also the trap-door -through which Raoul and the Persian penetrated into the cellars -of the opera-house. In the Communists' dungeon, I noticed numbers of -initials traced on the walls by the unfortunate people confined in it; -and among these were an "R" and a "C." R. C.: Raoul de Chagny. -The letters are there to this day. - ----- -[12] Even so, I am convinced that it would be easy to reach it -by draining the lake, as I have repeatedly requested the Ministry -of Fine Arts to do. I was speaking about it to M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, -the under-secretary for fine arts, only forty-eight hours before -the publication of this book. Who knows but that the score of DON -JUAN TRIUMPHANT might yet be discovered in the house on the lake? -the voice contained in it seemed rather to come from the opposite -side, for, as we have seen, the ghost was an expert ventriloquist. - -The column was elaborately carved and decorated with the -sculptor's chisel; and I do not despair of one day discovering -the ornament that could be raised or lowered at will, so as to admit -of the ghost's mysterious correspondence with Mme. Giry and of his generosity. - -If the reader will visit the Opera one morning and ask leave to stroll -where he pleases, without being accompanied by a stupid guide, -let him go to Box Five and knock with his fist or stick on -the enormous column that separates this from the stage-box. He -will find that the column sounds hollow. After that, do not be -astonished by the suggestion that it was occupied by the voice -of the ghost: there is room inside the column for two men. -If you are surprised that, when the various incidents occurred, -no one turned round to look at the column, you must remember -that it presented the appearance of solid marble, and that---- - -However, all these discoveries are nothing, to my mind, compared with -that which I was able to make, in the presence of the acting-manager, -in the managers' office, within a couple of inches from the desk-chair, -and which consisted of a trap-door, the width of a board in the flooring -and the length of a man's fore-arm and no longer; a trap-door that -falls back like the lid of a box; a trap-door through which I can -see a hand come and dexterously fumble at the pocket of a swallow-tail coat. - -That is the way the forty-thousand francs went!.... And that also -is the way by which, through some trick or other, they were returned. - -Speaking about this to the Persian, I said: - -"So we may take it, as the forty-thousand francs were returned, -that Erik was simply amusing himself with that memorandum-book -of his?" - -"Don't you believe it!" he replied. "Erik wanted money. Thinking himself -without the pale of humanity, he was restrained by no scruples and -he employed his extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination, -which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary -uglinesss, to prey upon his fellow-men. His reason for restoring -the forty-thousand francs, of his own accord, was that he no longer -wanted it. He had relinquished his marriage with Christine Daae. -He had relinquished everything above the surface of the earth." - -According to the Persian's account, Erik was born in a small town -not far from Rouen. He was the son of a master-mason. He ran away at -an early age from his father's house, where his ugliness was a subject -of horror and terror to his parents. For a time, he frequented -the fairs, where a showman exhibited him as the "living corpse." -He seems to have crossed the whole of Europe, from fair to fair, -and to have completed his strange education as an artist and magician -at the very fountain-head of art and magic, among the Gipsies. -A period of Erik's life remained quite obscure. He was seen at the fair -of Nijni-Novgorod, where he displayed himself in all his hideous glory. -He already sang as nobody on this earth had ever sung before; he practised -ventriloquism and gave displays of legerdemain so extraordinary -that the caravans returning to Asia talked about it during the whole -length of their journey. In this way, his reputation penetrated -the walls of the palace at Mazenderan, where the little sultana, -the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. -A dealer in furs, returning to Samarkand from Nijni-Novgorod, -told of the marvels which he had seen performed in Erik's tent. -The trader was summoned to the palace and the daroga of Mazenderan -was told to question him. Next the daroga was instructed to go -and find Erik. He brought him to Persia, where for some months -Erik's will was law. He was guilty of not a few horrors, for he -seemed not to know the difference between good and evil. He took -part calmly in a number of political assassinations; and he turned -his diabolical inventive powers against the Emir of Afghanistan, -who was at war with the Persian empire. The Shah took a liking -to him. - -This was the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, of which the daroga's -narrative has given us a glimpse. Erik had very original ideas on -the subject of architecture and thought out a palace much as a conjuror -contrives a trick-casket. The Shah ordered him to construct an edifice -of this kind. Erik did so; and the building appears to have been -so ingenious that His Majesty was able to move about in it unseen and -to disappear without a possibility of the trick's being discovered. -When the Shah-in-Shah found himself the possessor of this gem, -he ordered Erik's yellow eyes to be put out. But he reflected that, -even when blind, Erik would still be able to build so remarkable -a house for another sovereign; and also that, as long as Erik -was alive, some one would know the secret of the wonderful palace. -Erik's death was decided upon, together with that of all the laborers -who had worked under his orders. The execution of this abominable -decree devolved upon the daroga of Mazenderan. Erik had shown -him some slight services and procured him many a hearty laugh. -He saved Erik by providing him with the means of escape, but nearly -paid with his head for his generous indulgence. - -Fortunately for the daroga, a corpse, half-eaten by the birds -of prey, was found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and was taken -for Erik's body, because the daroga's friends had dressed the remains -in clothing that belonged to Erik. The daroga was let off with -the loss of the imperial favor, the confiscation of his property -and an order of perpetual banishment. As a member of the Royal House, -however, he continued to receive a monthly pension of a few hundred -francs from the Persian treasury; and on this he came to live in Paris. - -As for Erik, he went to Asia Minor and thence to Constantinople, -where he entered the Sultan's employment. In explanation of the services -which he was able to render a monarch haunted by perpetual terrors, -I need only say that it was Erik who constructed all the famous trap-doors -and secret chambers and mysterious strong-boxes which were found -at Yildiz-Kiosk after the last Turkish revolution. He also invented -those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the Sultan in -all respects,[13] which made people believe that the Commander of the -Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he was asleep elsewhere. - ----- -[13] See the interview of the special correspondent of the MATIN, -with Mohammed-Ali Bey, on the day after the entry of the Salonika -troops into Constantinople. - -Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons -that made him fly from Persia: he knew too much. Then, tired of -his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some -one "like everybody else." And he became a contractor, like any -ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. -He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. -His estimate was accepted. When he found himself in the cellars -of the enormous playhouse, his artistic, fantastic, wizard nature -resumed the upper hand. Besides, was he not as ugly as ever? -He dreamed of creating for his own use a dwelling unknown -to the rest of the earth, where he could hide from men's eyes for all time. - -The reader knows and guesses the rest. It is all in keeping with -this incredible and yet veracious story. Poor, unhappy Erik! -Shall we pity him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be "some one," -like everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his -genius OR USE IT TO PLAY TRICKS WITH, when, with an ordinary face, -he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had -a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, -he had to content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must needs -pity the Opera ghost. - -I have prayed over his mortal remains, that God might show him -mercy notwithstanding his crimes. Yes, I am sure, quite sure -that I prayed beside his body, the other day, when they took it -from the spot where they were burying the phonographic records. -It was his skeleton. I did not recognize it by the ugliness of the head, -for all men are ugly when they have been dead as long as that, -but by the plain gold ring which he wore and which Christine Daae -had certainly slipped on his finger, when she came to bury him -in accordance with her promise. - -The skeleton was lying near the little well, in the place where the Angel -of Music first held Christine Daae fainting in his trembling arms, -on the night when he carried her down to the cellars of the opera-house. - -And, now, what do they mean to do with that skeleton? Surely they -will not bury it in the common grave!...I say that the place -of the skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National -Academy of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton. - - - -THE END - - - -The Paris Opera House - - -THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" - -That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris -Opera House as it really is and has not created a building out -of his imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it -taken from an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, -a short time after the building was completed: - -"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under -the Republic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world -and in many respects the most beautiful. No European capital -possesses an opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, -and none can boast an edifice equally vast and splendid. - -"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined -to lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was -well known that water would be met with, but it was impossible -to foresee at what depth or in what quantity it would be found. -Exceptional depth also was necessary, as the stage arrangements -were to be such as to admit a scene fifty feet high to be lowered -on its frame. It was therefore necessary to lay a foundation -in a soil soaked with water which should be sufficiently solid -to sustain a weight of 22, pounds, and at the same time to be -perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for the storage -of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, -the excavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, -worked by steam power, and in operation, without interruption, -day and night, from March second to October thirteenth. The floor -of the cellar was covered with a layer of concrete, then with two -coats of cement, another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. -The wall includes an outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, -a coat of cement, and a wall proper, a little over a yard thick. -After all this was done the whole was filled with water, in order -that the fluid, by penetrating into the most minute interstices, -might deposit a sediment which would close them more surely and -perfectly than it would be possible to do by hand. Twelve years -elapsed before the completion of the building, and during that time -it was demonstrated that the precautions taken secured absolute -impermeability and solidity. - -"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to be -prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put -to new and unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted -into a vast military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous -mass of goods. After the siege the building fell into the hands -of the Commune and the roof was turned into a balloon station. -The damage done, however, was slight. - -"The fine stone employed in the construction was brought from -quarries in Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland, Spain, -Belgium and France. While work on the exterior was in progress, -the building was covered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent -by thousands of small panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, -supplied with hammers and axes, stripped the house of its habit, -and showed in all its splendor the great structure. No picture can -do justice to the rich colors of the edifice or to the harmonious -tone resulting from the skilful use of many diverse materials. -The effect of the frontage is completed by the cupola of the auditorium, -topped with a cap of bronze sparingly adorned with gilding. -Farther on, on a level with the towers of Notre-Dame, is the gable -end of the roof of the stage, a `Pegasus', by M. Lequesne, -rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group by M. Millet, -representing `Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commanding the apex. -Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well as ornamental, -for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does duty as a -lightning-rod, and conducts the fluid to the body and down the nether -limbs of the god. - -"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left behind him a gateway, -reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, -and Handel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to a second vestibule -for ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion reserved for -carriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are situated. -The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium, -traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. -The ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted -columns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico. -Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain -until their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is -quite distinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. -The section of the building set aside for the use of the Emperor -Napoleon was to have included an antechamber for the bodyguards; -a salon for the aides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one -for the Empress; hat and cloak rooms, etc. Moreover, there were -to be in close proximity to the entrance, stables for three coaches, -for the outriders' horses, and for the twenty-one horsemen acting -as an escort; a station for a squad of infantry of thirty-one men -and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the horses of the latter; -and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty domestics. Thus arrangements -had to be made to accommodate in this part of the building about -one hundred persons, fifty horses, and half-a-dozen carriages. -The fall of the Empire suggested some changes, but ample provision -still exists for emergencies. - -"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare splendor of material, -make the grand stairway unquestionably one of the most remarkable -features of the building. It presents to the spectator, who has -just passed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture. -From this point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing; -this and the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, -are honeycombed with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; -the steps are of white marble, and antique red marble balusters -rest on green marble sockets and support a balustrade of onyx. -To the right and to the left of this landing are stairways to the floor, -on a plane with the first row of boxes. On this floor stand thirty -monolith columns of Sarrancolin marble, with white marble bases -and capitals. Pilasters of peach-blossom and violet stone are against -the corresponding walls. More than fifty blocks had to be extracted -from the quarry to find thirty perfect monoliths. - -"The foyer de la danse has particular interest for the habitues -of the Opera. It is a place of reunion to which subscribers to three -performances a week are admitted between the acts in accordance -with a usage established in 1870. Three immense looking-glasses -cover the back wall of the FOYER, and a chandelier with one -hundred and seven burners supplies it with light. The paintings -include twenty oval medallions, in which are portrayed the twenty -danseuses of most celebrity since the opera has existed in France, -and four panels by M. Boulanger, typifying `The War Dance', `The -Rustic Dance', `The Dance of Love' and `The Bacchic Dance.' -While the ladies of the ballet receive their admirers in this foyer, -they can practise their steps. Velvet-cushioned bars have to this -end been secured at convenient points, and the floor has been given -the same slope as that of the stage, so that the labor expended -may be thoroughly profitable to the performance. The singers' foyer, -on the same floor, is a much less lively resort than the -foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leave their dressing-rooms -before they are summoned to the stage. Thirty panels with portraits -of the artists of repute in the annals of the Opera adorn this foyer. - -"Some estimate...may be arrived at by sitting before the concierge -an hour or so before the representation commences. First appear -the stage carpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes, -when L'Africaine, for example, with its ship scene, is the opera, -one hundred and ten strong. Then come stage upholsterers, -whose sole duty is to lay carpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and -a squad of firemen. Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, -coiffeurs, supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries -number about one hundred; some are hired by the year, but the -`masses' are generally recruited at the last minute and are -generally working-men who seek to add to their meagre earnings. -There are about a hundred choristers, and about eighty musicians. - -"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted on the stage by means -of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producing batteries; -hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works in ballets like La Source; -artificers who prepare the conflagration in Le Profeta; florists who -make ready Margarita's garden, and a host of minor employees. -This personnel is provided for as follows: Eighty dressing-rooms -are reserved for the artists, each including a small antechamber, -the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besides these apartments, -the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, and another for -fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four male dancers; -four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of different grades; -a dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries, etc." - -A few figures taken from the article will suggest the enormous -capacity and the perfect convenience of the house. "There are -2,531 doors and 7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house; -the gaspipes if connected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; -9 reservoirs, and two tanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and -distribute their contents through 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; -538 persons have places assigned wherein to change their attire. -The musicians have a foyer with 100 closets for their instruments." - -The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that it "was -almost as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways and -colossal halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, -satin and velvet, met the eye at every turn." - -In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable pictures -illustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera House -and mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitan -railway tunnels, one on top of the other. - -[end] - - - -"End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Phantom of the Opera" - - -
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/old/phant10.zip b/old/phant10.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f6e7e38..0000000 --- a/old/phant10.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/phant11.txt b/old/phant11.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8b8063c..0000000 --- a/old/phant11.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10860 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux - -Please take a look at the important information in this header. -We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an -electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* - -Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and -further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* - - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux -Author of "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" and -"The Perfume of the Lady in Black" - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - - - - -Contents - -Chapter - PROLOGUE -I IS IT A GHOST? -II THE NEW MARGARITA -III THE MYSTERIOUS REASON -IV BOX FIVE -V THE ENCHANTED VIOLIN -VI A VISIT TO BOX FIVE -VII FAUST AND WHAT FOLLOWED -VIII THE MYSTERIOUS BROUGHAM -IX AT THE MASKED BALL -X FORGET THE NAME OF THE MAN'S VOICE -XI ABOVE THE TRAP-DOORS -XII APOLLO'S LYRE -XIII A MASTER-STROKE OF THE TRAP-DOOR LOVER -XIV THE SINGULAR ATTITUDE OF A SAFETY-PIN -XV CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE! -XVI MME. GIRY'S REVELATIONS -XVII THE SAFETY-PIN AGAIN -XVIII THE COMMISSARY, THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN -XIX THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN -XX IN THE CELLARS OF THE OPERA -XXI INTERESTING VICISSITUDES -XXII IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER -XXIII THE TORTURES BEGIN -XXIV BARRELS! BARRELS! -XXV THE SCORPION OR THE GRASSHOPPER: WHICH -XXVI THE END OF THE GHOST'S LOVE STORY - EPILOGUE - -{plus a "bonus chapter" called "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE"} - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera - - - - -Prologue - - -IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS SINGULAR WORK INFORMS THE READER HOW -HE ACQUIRED THE CERTAINTY THAT THE OPERA GHOST REALLY EXISTED - -The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, -a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of -the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains -of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, -the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed -in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance -of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. - -When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of -Music I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between -the phenomena ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary -and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; -and I soon conceived the idea that this tragedy might reasonably -be explained by the phenomena in question. The events do not -date more than thirty years back; and it would not be difficult -to find at the present day, in the foyer of the ballet, old men -of the highest respectability, men upon whose word one could -absolutely rely, who would remember as though they happened yesterday -the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended the kidnapping -of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny -and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body -was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars -of the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses -had until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting -the more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible story. - -The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an inquiry that -at every moment was complicated by events which, at first sight, -might be looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was -within an ace of abandoning a task in which I was exhausting -myself in the hopeless pursuit of a vain image. At last, -I received the proof that my presentiments had not deceived me, -and I was rewarded for all my efforts on the day when I acquired -the certainty that the Opera ghost was more than a mere shade. - -On that day, I had spent long hours over THE MEMOIRS OF A MANAGER, -the light and frivolous work of the too-skeptical Moncharmin, who, -during his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious -behavior of the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he -could at the very moment when he became the first victim of the -curious financial operation that went on inside the "magic envelope." - -I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful -acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing -with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced -me gaily. The acting-manager knew all about my investigations -and how eagerly and unsuccessfully I had been trying to discover -the whereabouts of the examining magistrate in the famous Chagny case, -M. Faure. Nobody knew what had become of him, alive or dead; -and here he was back from Canada, where he had spent fifteen years, -and the first thing he had done, on his return to Paris, was to come -to the secretarial offices at the Opera and ask for a free seat. -The little old man was M. Faure himself. - -We spent a good part of the evening together and he told me the whole -Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. He was bound to -conclude in favor of the madness of the viscount and the accidental -death of the elder brother, for lack of evidence to the contrary; -but he was nevertheless persuaded that a terrible tragedy had taken -place between the two brothers in connection with Christine Daae. -He could not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. -When I mentioned the ghost, he only laughed. He, too, had been told -of the curious manifestations that seemed to point to the existence -of an abnormal being, residing in one of the most mysterious -corners of the Opera, and he knew the story of the envelope; -but he had never seen anything in it worthy of his attention -as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case, and it was as much -as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness who appeared -of his own accord and declared that he had often met the ghost. -This witness was none other than the man whom all Paris called the -"Persian" and who was well-known to every subscriber to the Opera. -The magistrate took him for a visionary. - -I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. I wanted, -if there were still time, to find this valuable and eccentric witness. -My luck began to improve and I discovered him in his little flat -in the Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died -five months after my visit. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; -but when the Persian had told me, with child-like candor, -all that he knew about the ghost and had handed me the proofs -of the ghost's existence--including the strange correspondence -of Christine Daae--to do as I pleased with, I was no longer able -to doubt. No, the ghost was not a myth! - -I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been -forged from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly -been fed on the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered -some of Christine's writing outside the famous bundle of letters and, -on a comparison between the two, all my doubts were removed. -I also went into the past history of the Persian and found that he -was an upright man, incapable of inventing a story that might have -defeated the ends of justice. - -This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, -at one time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were -friends of the Chagny family, to whom I showed all my documents -and set forth all my inferences. In this connection, I should -like to print a few lines which I received from General D------: - -SIR: - -I can not urge you too strongly to publish the results of your inquiry. -I remember perfectly that, a few weeks before the disappearance -of that great singer, Christine Daae, and the tragedy which -threw the whole of the Faubourg Saint-Germain into mourning, -there was a great deal of talk, in the foyer of the ballet, -on the subject of the "ghost;" and I believe that it only ceased -to be discussed in consequence of the later affair that excited us -all so greatly. But, if it be possible--as, after hearing you, -I believe--to explain the tragedy through the ghost, then I -beg you sir, to talk to us about the ghost again. - -Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, he will always -be more easily explained than the dismal story in which malevolent -people have tried to picture two brothers killing each other -who had worshiped each other all their lives. - -Believe me, etc. - -Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over -the ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made -his kingdom. All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived, -corroborated the Persian's documents precisely; and a wonderful -discovery crowned my labors in a very definite fashion. It will be -remembered that, later, when digging in the substructure of the Opera, -before burying the phonographic records of the artist's voice, -the workmen laid bare a corpse. Well, I was at once able -to prove that this corpse was that of the Opera ghost. I made -the acting-manager put this proof to the test with his own hand; -and it is now a matter of supreme indifference to me if the papers -pretend that the body was that of a victim of the Commune. - -The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars -of the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their -skeletons can be found in a spot not very far from that immense crypt -which was stocked during the siege with all sorts of provisions. -I came upon this track just when I was looking for the remains -of the Opera ghost, which I should never have discovered but for -the unheard-of chance described above. - -But we will return to the corpse and what ought to be done with it. -For the present, I must conclude this very necessary introduction -by thanking M. Mifroid (who was the commissary of police called in for -the first investigations after the disappearance of Christine Daae), -M. Remy, the late secretary, M. Mercier, the late acting-manager, -M. Gabriel, the late chorus-master, and more particularly Mme. la -Baronne de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the "little Meg" -of the story (and who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star -of our admirable corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy -Mme. Giry, now deceased, who had charge of the ghost's private box. -All these were of the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, -I shall be able to reproduce those hours of sheer love and terror, -in their smallest details, before the reader's eyes. - -And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing -on the threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank -the present management the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me -in all my inquiries, and M. Messager in particular, together with -M. Gabion, the acting-manager, and that most amiable of men, -the architect intrusted with the preservation of the building, -who did not hesitate to lend me the works of Charles Garnier, -although he was almost sure that I would never return them to him. -Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the generosity of my friend -and former collaborator, M. J. Le Croze, who allowed me to dip -into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow the rarest -editions of books by which he set great store. - -GASTON LEROUX. - - - -Chapter I Is it the Ghost? - - -It was the evening on which MM. Debienne and Poligny, the managers of -the Opera, were giving a last gala performance to mark their retirement. -Suddenly the dressing-room of La Sorelli, one of the principal dancers, -was invaded by half-a-dozen young ladies of the ballet, who had come -up from the stage after "dancing" Polyeucte. They rushed in amid -great confusion, some giving vent to forced and unnatural laughter, -others to cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished to be alone for a moment -to "run through" the speech which she was to make to the resigning -managers, looked around angrily at the mad and tumultuous crowd. -It was little Jammes--the girl with the tip-tilted nose, -the forget-me-not eyes, the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white -neck and shoulders--who gave the explanation in a trembling voice: - -"It's the ghost!" And she locked the door. - -Sorelli's dressing-room was fitted up with official, commonplace elegance. -A pier-glass, a sofa, a dressing-table and a cupboard or two provided -the necessary furniture. On the walls hung a few engravings, -relics of the mother, who had known the glories of the old Opera in -the Rue le Peletier; portraits of Vestris, Gardel, Dupont, Bigottini. -But the room seemed a palace to the brats of the corps de ballet, -who were lodged in common dressing-rooms where they spent their -time singing, quarreling, smacking the dressers and hair-dressers -and buying one another glasses of cassis, beer, or even rhum, -until the call-boy's bell rang. - -Sorelli was very superstitious. She shuddered when she heard -little Jammes speak of the ghost, called her a "silly little fool" -and then, as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general, -and the Opera ghost in particular, at once asked for details: - -"Have you seen him?" - -"As plainly as I see you now!" said little Jammes, whose legs were -giving way beneath her, and she dropped with a moan into a chair. - -Thereupon little Giry--the girl with eyes black as sloes, -hair black as ink, a swarthy complexion and a poor little skin -stretched over poor little bones--little Giry added: - -"If that's the ghost, he's very ugly!" - -"Oh, yes!" cried the chorus of ballet-girls. - -And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them -in the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood -before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. -He seemed to have come straight through the wall. - -"Pooh!" said one of them, who had more or less kept her head. -"You see the ghost everywhere!" - -And it was true. For several months, there had been nothing discussed -at the Opera but this ghost in dress-clothes who stalked about -the building, from top to bottom, like a shadow, who spoke to nobody, -to whom nobody dared speak and who vanished as soon as he was seen, -no one knowing how or where. As became a real ghost, he made no noise -in walking. People began by laughing and making fun of this specter -dressed like a man of fashion or an undertaker; but the ghost legend -soon swelled to enormous proportions among the corps de ballet. -All the girls pretended to have met this supernatural being more -or less often. And those who laughed the loudest were not the most -at ease. When he did not show himself, he betrayed his presence -or his passing by accident, comic or serious, for which the general -superstition held him responsible. Had any one met with a fall, -or suffered a practical joke at the hands of one of the other girls, -or lost a powderpuff, it was at once the fault of the ghost, -of the Opera ghost. - -After all, who had seen him? You meet so many men in dress-clothes -at the Opera who are not ghosts. But this dress-suit had -a peculiarity of its own. It covered a skeleton. At least, -so the ballet-girls said. And, of course, it had a death's head. - -Was all this serious? The truth is that the idea of the skeleton -came from the description of the ghost given by Joseph Buquet, -the chief scene-shifter, who had really seen the ghost. He had run -up against the ghost on the little staircase, by the footlights, -which leads to "the cellars." He had seen him for a second-- -for the ghost had fled--and to any one who cared to listen to him -he said: - -"He is extraordinarily thin and his dress-coat hangs on a skeleton frame. -His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils. -You just see two big black holes, as in a dead man's skull. -His skin, which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead, -is not white, but a nasty yellow. His nose is so little worth -talking about that you can't see it side-face; and THE ABSENCE -of that nose is a horrible thing TO LOOK AT. All the hair he -has is three or four long dark locks on his forehead and behind -his ears." - -This chief scene-shifter was a serious, sober, steady man, -very slow at imagining things. His words were received with interest -and amazement; and soon there were other people to say that they too -had met a man in dress-clothes with a death's head on his shoulders. -Sensible men who had wind of the story began by saying that Joseph -Buquet had been the victim of a joke played by one of his assistants. -And then, one after the other, there came a series of incidents -so curious and so inexplicable that the very shrewdest people began -to feel uneasy. - -For instance, a fireman is a brave fellow! He fears nothing, -least of all fire! Well, the fireman in question, who had gone -to make a round of inspection in the cellars and who, it seems, -had ventured a little farther than usual, suddenly reappeared on -the stage, pale, scared, trembling, with his eyes starting out of -his head, and practically fainted in the arms of the proud mother -of little Jammes.[1] And why? Because he had seen coming toward him, -AT THE LEVEL OF HIS HEAD, BUT WITHOUT A BODY ATTACHED TO IT, -A HEAD OF FIRE! And, as I said, a fireman is not afraid of fire. - ----- - -[1] I have the anecdote, which is quite authentic, from M. Pedro -Gailhard himself, the late manager of the Opera. - -The fireman's name was Pampin. - -The corps de ballet was flung into consternation. At first sight, -this fiery head in no way corresponded with Joseph Buquet's -description of the ghost. But the young ladies soon persuaded -themselves that the ghost had several heads, which he changed about -as he pleased. And, of course, they at once imagined that they -were in the greatest danger. Once a fireman did not hesitate -to faint, leaders and front-row and back-row girls alike had plenty -of excuses for the fright that made them quicken their pace when -passing some dark corner or ill-lighted corridor. Sorelli herself, -on the day after the adventure of the fireman, placed a horseshoe -on the table in front of the stage-door-keeper's box, which every -one who entered the Opera otherwise than as a spectator must -touch before setting foot on the first tread of the staircase. -This horse-shoe was not invented by me--any more than any other -part of this story, alas!--and may still be seen on the table -in the passage outside the stage-door-keeper's box, when you enter -the Opera through the court known as the Cour de l'Administration. - -To return to the evening in question. - -"It's the ghost!" little Jammes had cried. - -An agonizing silence now reigned in the dressing-room. Nothing -was heard but the hard breathing of the girls. At last, Jammes, -flinging herself upon the farthest corner of the wall, with every -mark of real terror on her face, whispered: - -"Listen!" - -Everybody seemed to hear a rustling outside the door. There was no -sound of footsteps. It was like light silk sliding over the panel. -Then it stopped. - -Sorelli tried to show more pluck than the others. She went up -to the door and, in a quavering voice, asked: - -"Who's there?" - -But nobody answered. Then feeling all eyes upon her, watching her -last movement, she made an effort to show courage, and said very loudly: - -"Is there any one behind the door?" - -"Oh, yes, yes! Of course there is!" cried that little dried plum -of a Meg Giry, heroically holding Sorelli back by her gauze skirt. -"Whatever you do, don't open the door! Oh, Lord, don't open -the door!" - -But Sorelli, armed with a dagger that never left her, turned the key -and drew back the door, while the ballet-girls retreated to the inner -dressing-room and Meg Giry sighed: - -"Mother! Mother!" - -Sorelli looked into the passage bravely. It was empty; -a gas-flame, in its glass prison, cast a red and suspicious light -into the surrounding darkness, without succeeding in dispelling it. -And the dancer slammed the door again, with a deep sigh. - -"No," she said, "there is no one there." - -"Still, we saw him!" Jammes declared, returning with timid little steps -to her place beside Sorelli. "He must be somewhere prowling about. -I shan't go back to dress. We had better all go down to the foyer -together, at once, for the `speech,' and we will come up again together." - -And the child reverently touched the little coral finger-ring which -she wore as a charm against bad luck, while Sorelli, stealthily, -with the tip of her pink right thumb-nail, made a St. Andrew's cross -on the wooden ring which adorned the fourth finger of her left hand. -She said to the little ballet-girls: - -"Come, children, pull yourselves together! I dare say no one has -ever seen the ghost." - -"Yes, yes, we saw him--we saw him just now!" cried the girls. -"He had his death's head and his dress-coat, just as when he appeared -to Joseph Buquet!" - -"And Gabriel saw him too!" said Jammes. "Only yesterday! -Yesterday afternoon--in broad day-light----" - -"Gabriel, the chorus-master?" - -"Why, yes, didn't you know?" - -"And he was wearing his dress-clothes, in broad daylight?" - -"Who? Gabriel?" - -"Why, no, the ghost!" - -"Certainly! Gabriel told me so himself. That's what he knew him by. -Gabriel was in the stage-manager's office. Suddenly the door opened -and the Persian entered. You know the Persian has the evil eye----" - -"Oh, yes!" answered the little ballet-girls in chorus, warding off ill-luck by -pointing their forefinger and little finger at the absent Persian, while their -second and third fingers were bent on the palm and held down by the thumb. - -"And you know how superstitious Gabriel is," continued Jammes. -"However, he is always polite. When he meets the Persian, he just -puts his hand in his pocket and touches his keys. Well, the moment -the Persian appeared in the doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from -his chair to the lock of the cupboard, so as to touch iron! -In doing so, he tore a whole skirt of his overcoat on a nail. -Hurrying to get out of the room, he banged his forehead against a -hat-peg and gave himself a huge bump; then, suddenly stepping back, -he skinned his arm on the screen, near the piano; he tried to lean -on the piano, but the lid fell on his hands and crushed his fingers; -he rushed out of the office like a madman, slipped on the staircase -and came down the whole of the first flight on his back. -I was just passing with mother. We picked him up. He was covered -with bruises and his face was all over blood. We were frightened out -of our lives, but, all at once, he began to thank Providence that he -had got off so cheaply. Then he told us what had frightened him. -He had seen the ghost behind the Persian, THE GHOST WITH THE DEATH'S -HEAD just like Joseph Buquet's description!" - -Jammes had told her story ever so quickly, as though the ghost -were at her heels, and was quite out of breath at the finish. -A silence followed, while Sorelli polished her nails in great excitement. -It was broken by little Giry, who said: - -"Joseph Buquet would do better to hold his tongue." - -"Why should he hold his tongue?" asked somebody. - -"That's mother's opinion," replied Meg, lowering her voice -and looking all about her as though fearing lest other ears -than those present might overhear. - -"And why is it your mother's opinion?" - -"Hush! Mother says the ghost doesn't like being talked about." - -"And why does your mother say so?" - -"Because--because--nothing--" - -This reticence exasperated the curiosity of the young ladies, -who crowded round little Giry, begging her to explain herself. -They were there, side by side, leaning forward simultaneously -in one movement of entreaty and fear, communicating their terror -to one another, taking a keen pleasure in feeling their blood freeze -in their veins. - -"I swore not to tell!" gasped Meg. - -But they left her no peace and promised to keep the secret, until Meg, -burning to say all she knew, began, with her eyes fixed on the door: - -"Well, it's because of the private box." - -"What private box?" - -"The ghost's box!" - -"Has the ghost a box? Oh, do tell us, do tell us!" - -"Not so loud!" said Meg. "It's Box Five, you know, the box -on the grand tier, next to the stage-box, on the left." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"I tell you it is. Mother has charge of it. But you swear you -won't say a word?" - -"Of course, of course." - -"Well, that's the ghost's box. No one has had it for over a month, -except the ghost, and orders have been given at the box-office -that it must never be sold." - -"And does the ghost really come there?" - -"Yes." - -"Then somebody does come?" - -"Why, no! The ghost comes, but there is nobody there." - -The little ballet-girls exchanged glances. If the ghost came to the box, -he must be seen, because he wore a dress-coat and a death's head. -This was what they tried to make Meg understand, but she replied: - -"That's just it! The ghost is not seen. And he has no dress-coat -and no head! All that talk about his death's head and his head of -fire is nonsense! There's nothing in it. You only hear him when he -is in the box. Mother has never seen him, but she has heard him. -Mother knows, because she gives him his program." - -Sorelli interfered. - -"Giry, child, you're getting at us!" - -Thereupon little Giry began to cry. - -"I ought to have held my tongue--if mother ever came to know! -But I was quite right, Joseph Buquet had no business to talk -of things that don't concern him--it will bring him bad luck-- -mother was saying so last night----" - -There was a sound of hurried and heavy footsteps in the passage -and a breathless voice cried: - -"Cecile! Cecile! Are you there?" - -"It's mother's voice," said Jammes. "What's the matter?" - -She opened the door. A respectable lady, built on the lines of a -Pomeranian grenadier, burst into the dressing-room and dropped groaning -into a vacant arm-chair. Her eyes rolled madly in her brick-dust colored face. - -"How awful!" she said. "How awful!" - -"What? What?" - -"Joseph Buquet - -"What about him?" - -"Joseph Buquet is dead!" - -The room became filled with exclamations, with astonished outcries, -with scared requests for explanations. - -"Yes, he was found hanging in the third-floor cellar!" - -"It's the ghost!" little Giry blurted, as though in spite of herself; -but she at once corrected herself, with her hands pressed to her mouth: -"No, no!--I, didn't say it!--I didn't say it!----" - -All around her, her panic-stricken companions repeated under -their breaths: - -"Yes--it must be the ghost!" - -Sorelli was very pale. - -"I shall never be able to recite my speech," she said. - -Ma Jammes gave her opinion, while she emptied a glass of liqueur -that happened to be standing on a table; the ghost must have -something to do with it. - -The truth is that no one ever knew how Joseph Buquet met his death. -The verdict at the inquest was "natural suicide." In his Memoirs -of Manager, M. Moncharmin, one of the joint managers who succeeded MM. -Debienne and Poligny, describes the incident as follows: - -"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. -Debienne and Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was -in the manager's office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly -came darting in. He seemed half mad and told me that the body -of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar under -the stage, between a farm-house and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. -I shouted: - -"`Come and cut him down!' - -"By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob's ladder, -the man was no longer hanging from his rope!" - -So this is an event which M. Moncharmin thinks natural. A man -hangs at the end of a rope; they go to cut him down; the rope -has disappeared. Oh, M. Moncharmin found a very simple explanation! -Listen to him: - -"It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost -no time in taking their precautions against the evil eye." - -There you are! Picture the corps de ballet scuttling down the -Jacob's ladder and dividing the suicide's rope among themselves -in less time than it takes to write! When, on the other hand, -I think of the exact spot where the body was discovered-- -the third cellar underneath the stage!--imagine that SOMEBODY -must have been interested in seeing that the rope disappeared -after it had effected its purpose; and time will show if I am wrong. - -The horrid news soon spread all over the Opera, where Joseph Buquet -was very popular. The dressing-rooms emptied and the ballet-girls, -crowding around Sorelli like timid sheep around their shepherdess, -made for the foyer through the ill-lit passages and staircases, -trotting as fast as their little pink legs could carry them. - - - -Chapter II The New Margarita - - -On the first landing, Sorelli ran against the Comte de Chagny, -who was coming up-stairs. The count, who was generally so calm, -seemed greatly excited. - -"I was just going to you," he said, taking off his hat. "Oh, Sorelli, -what an evening! And Christine Daae: what a triumph!" - -"Impossible!" said Meg Giry. "Six months ago, she used to sing like -a CROCK! But do let us get by, my dear count," continues the brat, -with a saucy curtsey. "We are going to inquire after a poor man -who was found hanging by the neck." - -Just then the acting-manager came fussing past and stopped when he -heard this remark. - -"What!" he exclaimed roughly. "Have you girls heard already? -Well, please forget about it for tonight--and above all don't let -M. Debienne and M. Poligny hear; it would upset them too much -on their last day." - -They all went on to the foyer of the ballet, which was already full -of people. The Comte de Chagny was right; no gala performance ever -equalled this one. All the great composers of the day had conducted their -own works in turns. Faure and Krauss had sung; and, on that evening, -Christine Daae had revealed her true self, for the first time, -to the astonished and enthusiastic audience. Gounod had conducted -the Funeral March of a Marionnette; Reyer, his beautiful overture -to Siguar; Saint Saens, the Danse Macabre and a Reverie Orientale; -Massenet, an unpublished Hungarian march; Guiraud, his Carnaval; -Delibes, the Valse Lente from Sylvia and the Pizzicati from Coppelia. -Mlle. Krauss had sung the bolero in the Vespri Siciliani; -and Mlle. Denise Bloch the drinking song in Lucrezia Borgia. - -But the real triumph was reserved for Christine Daae, who had -begun by singing a few passages from Romeo and Juliet. It was -the first time that the young artist sang in this work of Gounod, -which had not been transferred to the Opera and which was revived -at the Opera Comique after it had been produced at the old Theatre -Lyrique by Mme. Carvalho. Those who heard her say that her voice, -in these passages, was seraphic; but this was nothing to the superhuman -notes that she gave forth in the prison scene and the final trio -in FAUST, which she sang in the place of La Carlotta, who was ill. -No one had ever heard or seen anything like it. - -Daae revealed a new Margarita that night, a Margarita of a splendor, -a radiance hitherto unsuspected. The whole house went mad, -rising to its feet, shouting, cheering, clapping, while Christine -sobbed and fainted in the arms of her fellow-singers and had to be -carried to her dressing-room. A few subscribers, however, protested. -Why had so great a treasure been kept from them all that time? -Till then, Christine Daae had played a good Siebel to Carlotta's -rather too splendidly material Margarita. And it had needed -Carlotta's incomprehensible and inexcusable absence from this gala -night for the little Daae, at a moment's warning, to show all that she -could do in a part of the program reserved for the Spanish diva! -Well, what the subscribers wanted to know was, why had Debienne -and Poligny applied to Daae, when Carlotta was taken ill? Did they -know of her hidden genius? And, if they knew of it, why had they -kept it hidden? And why had she kept it hidden? Oddly enough, -she was not known to have a professor of singing at that moment. -She had often said she meant to practise alone for the future. -The whole thing was a mystery. - -The Comte de Chagny, standing up in his box, listened to all this -frenzy and took part in it by loudly applauding. Philippe Georges -Marie Comte de Chagny was just forty-one years of age. -He was a great aristocrat and a good-looking man, above middle -height and with attractive features, in spite of his hard forehead -and his rather cold eyes. He was exquisitely polite to the women -and a little haughty to the men, who did not always forgive him -for his successes in society. He had an excellent heart and an -irreproachable conscience. On the death of old Count Philibert, -he became the head of one of the oldest and most distinguished -families in France, whose arms dated back to the fourteenth century. -The Chagnys owned a great deal of property; and, when the old count, -who was a widower, died, it was no easy task for Philippe to accept -the management of so large an estate. His two sisters and his -brother, Raoul, would not hear of a division and waived their claim -to their shares, leaving themselves entirely in Philippe's hands, -as though the right of primogeniture had never ceased to exist. -When the two sisters married, on the same day, they received their -portion from their brother, not as a thing rightfully belonging -to them, but as a dowry for which they thanked him. - -The Comtesse de Chagny, nee de Moerogis de La Martyniere, had died in -giving birth to Raoul, who was born twenty years after his elder brother. -At the time of the old count's death, Raoul was twelve years of age. -Philippe busied himself actively with the youngster's education. -He was admirably assisted in this work first by his sisters -and afterward by an old aunt, the widow of a naval officer, -who lived at Brest and gave young Raoul a taste for the sea. -The lad entered the Borda training-ship, finished his course -with honors and quietly made his trip round the world. Thanks to -powerful influence, he had just been appointed a member of the official -expedition on board the Requin, which was to be sent to the Arctic -Circle in search of the survivors of the D'Artoi's expedition, -of whom nothing had been heard for three years. Meanwhile, he was -enjoying a long furlough which would not be over for six months; -and already the dowagers of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were pitying -the handsome and apparently delicate stripling for the hard work -in store for him. - -The shyness of the sailor-lad--I was almost saying his innocence-- -was remarkable. He seemed to have but just left the women's -apron-strings. As a matter of fact, petted as he was by his two -sisters and his old aunt, he had retained from this purely feminine -education mnnners that were almost candid and stamped with a charm -that nothing had yet been able to sully. He was a little over -twenty-one years of age and looked eighteen. He had a small, -fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes and a complexion like a girl's. - -Philippe spoiled Raoul. To begin with, he was very proud of him -and pleased to foresee a glorious career for his junior in the navy -in which one of their ancestors, the famous Chagny de La Roche, -had held the rank of admiral. He took advantage of the young -man's leave of absence to show him Paris, with all its luxurious -and artistic delights. The count considered that, at Raoul's age, -it is not good to be too good. Philippe himself had a character -that was very well-balanced in work and pleasure alike; -his demeanor was always faultless; and he was incapable of setting -his brother a bad example. He took him with him wherever he went. -He even introduced him to the foyer of the ballet. I know that -the count was said to be "on terms" with Sorelli. But it could -hardly be reckoned as a crime for this nobleman, a bachelor, -with plenty of leisure, especially since his sisters were settled, -to come and spend an hour or two after dinner in the company -of a dancer, who, though not so very, very witty, had the finest -eyes that ever were seen! And, besides, there are places where -a true Parisian, when he has the rank of the Comte de Chagny, -is bound to show himself; and at that time the foyer of the ballet -at the Opera was one of those places. - -Lastly, Philippe would perhaps not have taken his brother behind -the scenes of the Opera if Raoul had not been the first to ask him, -repeatedly renewing his request with a gentle obstinacy which -the count remembered at a later date. - -On that evening, Philippe, after applauding the Daae, turned to -Raoul and saw that he was quite pale. - -"Don't you see," said Raoul, "that the woman's fainting?" - -"You look like fainting yourself," said the count. "What's the matter?" - -But Raoul had recovered himself and was standing up. - -"Let's go and see," he said, "she never sang like that before." - -The count gave his brother a curious smiling glance and seemed quite pleased. -They were soon at the door leading from the house to the stage. -Numbers of subscribers were slowly making their way through. -Raoul tore his gloves without knowing what he was doing and Philippe -had much too kind a heart to laugh at him for his impatience. -But he now understood why Raoul was absent-minded when spoken to -and why he always tried to turn every conversation to the subject -of the Opera. - -They reached the stage and pushed through the crowd of gentlemen, -scene-shifters, supers and chorus-girls, Raoul leading the way, -feeling that his heart no longer belonged to him, his face set -with passion, while Count Philippe followed him with difficulty -and continued to smile. At the back of the stage, Raoul had to stop -before the inrush of the little troop of ballet-girls who blocked -the passage which he was trying to enter. More than one chaffing -phrase darted from little made-up lips, to which he did not reply; -and at last he was able to pass, and dived into the semi-darkness -of a corridor ringing with the name of "Daae! Daae!" The count -was surprised to find that Raoul knew the way. He had never taken -him to Christine's himself and came to the conclusion that Raoul must -have gone there alone while the count stayed talking in the foyer -with Sorelli, who often asked him to wait until it was her time to -"go on" and sometimes handed him the little gaiters in which she ran -down from her dressing-room to preserve the spotlessness of her satin -dancing-shoes and her flesh-colored tights. Sorelli had an excuse; -she had lost her mother. - -Postponing his usual visit to Sorelli for a few minutes, the count -followed his brother down the passage that led to Daae's dressing-room -and saw that it had never been so crammed as on that evening, -when the whole house seemed excited by her success and also by her -fainting fit. For the girl had not yet come to; and the doctor -of the theater had just arrived at the moment when Raoul entered -at his heels. Christine, therefore, received the first aid -of the one, while opening her eyes in the arms of the other. -The count and many more remained crowding in the doorway. - -"Don't you think, Doctor, that those gentlemen had better clear -the room?" asked Raoul coolly. "There's no breathing here." - -"You're quite right," said the doctor. - -And he sent every one away, except Raoul and the maid, who looked -at Raoul with eyes of the most undisguised astonishment. -She had never seen him before and yet dared not question him; -and the doctor imagined that the young man was only acting as he did -because he had the right to. The viscount, therefore, remained in -the room watching Christine as she slowly returned to life, -while even the joint managers, Debienne and Poligny, who had come -to offer their sympathy and congratulations, found themselves thrust -into the passage among the crowd of dandies. The Comte de Chagny, -who was one of those standing outside, laughed: - -"Oh, the rogue, the rogue!" And he added, under his breath: -"Those youngsters with their school-girl airs! So he's a Chagny -after all!" - -He turned to go to Sorelli's dressing-room, but met her on the way, -with her little troop of trembling ballet-girls, as we have seen. - -Meanwhile, Christine Daae uttered a deep sigh, which was answered -by a groan. She turned her head, saw Raoul and started. She looked -at the doctor, on whom she bestowed a smile, then at her maid, -then at Raoul again. - -"Monsieur," she said, in a voice not much above a whisper, -"who are you?" - -"Mademoiselle," replied the young man, kneeling on one knee -and pressing a fervent kiss on the diva's hand, "I AM THE LITTLE -BOY WHO WENT INTO THE SEA TO RESCUE YOUR SCARF." - -Christine again looked at the doctor and the maid; and all three -began to laugh. - -Raoul turned very red and stood up. - -"Mademoiselle," he said, "since you are pleased not to recognize me, -I should like to say something to you in private, something very important." - -"When I am better, do you mind?" And her voice shook. "You have -been very good." - -"Yes, you must go," said the doctor, with his pleasantest smile. -"Leave me to attend to mademoiselle." - -"I am not ill now," said Christine suddenly, with strange -and unexpected energy. - -She rose and passed her hand over her eyelids. - -"Thank you, Doctor. I should like to be alone. Please go away, -all of you. Leave me. I feel very restless this evening." - -The doctor tried to make a short protest, but, perceiving the girl's -evident agitation, he thought the best remedy was not to thwart her. -And he went away, saying to Raoul, outside: - -"She is not herself to-night. She is usually so gentle." - -Then he said good night and Raoul was left alone. The whole of this -part of the theater was now deserted. The farewell ceremony was -no doubt taking place in the foyer of the ballet. Raoul thought -that Daae might go to it and he waited in the silent solitude, -even hiding in the favoring shadow of a doorway. He felt a terrible pain -at his heart and it was of this that he wanted to speak to Daae without delay. - -Suddenly the dressing-room door opened and the maid came out by herself, -carrying bundles. He stopped her and asked how her mistress was. -The woman laughed and said that she was quite well, but that he -must not disturb her, for she wished to be left alone. And she -passed on. One idea alone filled Raoul's burning brain: of course, -Daae wished to be left alone FOR HIM! Had he not told her that he -wanted to speak to her privately? - -Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his -ear to the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his -hand dropped. He had heard A MAN'S VOICE in the dressing-room, saying, -in a curiously masterful tone: - -"Christine, you must love me!" - -And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though -accompanied by tears, replied: - -"How can you talk like that? WHEN I SING ONLY FOR YOU!" - -Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain. His heart, -which had seemed gone for ever, returned to his breast and -was throbbing loudly. The whole passage echoed with its beating and -Raoul's ears were deafened. Surely, if his heart continued to make -such a noise, they would hear it inside, they would open the door and -the young man would be turned away in disgrace. What a position for a Chagny! -To be caught listening behind a door! He took his heart in his two hands -to make it stop. - -The man's voice spoke again: "Are you very tired?" - -"Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!" Christine replied. - -"Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice, -"and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. -THE ANGELS WEPT TONIGHT." - -Raoul heard nothing after that. Nevertheless, he did not go away, -but, as though he feared lest he should be caught, he returned to -his dark corner, determined to wait for the man to leave the room. -At one and the same time, he had learned what love meant, and hatred. -He knew that he loved. He wanted to know whom he hated. To his -great astonishment, the door opened and Christine Daae appeared, -wrapped in furs, with her face hidden in a lace veil, alone. She closed -the door behind her, but Raoul observed that she did not lock it. -She passed him. He did not even follow her with his eyes, for his -eyes were fixed on the door, which did not open again. - -When the passage was once more deserted, he crossed it, -opened the door of the dressing-room, went in and shut the door. -He found himself in absolute darkness. The gas had been turned out. - -"There is some one here!" said Raoul, with his back against -the closed door, in a quivering voice. "What are you hiding for?" - -All was darkness and silence. Raoul heard only the sound of his -own breathing. He quite failed to see that the indiscretion -of his conduct was exceeding all bounds. - -"You shan't leave this until I let you!" he exclaimed. "If you -don't answer, you are a coward! But I'll expose you!" - -And he struck a match. The blaze lit up the room. There was no -one in the room! Raoul, first turning the key in the door, lit the -gas-jets. He went into the dressing-closet, opened the cupboards, -hunted about, felt the walls with his moist hands. Nothing! - -"Look here!" he said, aloud. "Am I going mad?" - -He stood for ten minutes listening to the gas flaring in the silence -of the empty room; lover though he was, he did not even think of stealing -a ribbon that would have given him the perfume of the woman he loved. -He went out, not knowing what he was doing nor where he was going. -At a given moment in his wayward progress, an icy draft struck -him in the face. He found himself at the bottom of a staircase, -down which, behind him, a procession of workmen were carrying a sort -of stretcher, covered with a white sheet. - -"Which is the way out, please?" he asked of one of the men. - -"Straight in front of you, the door is open. But let us pass." - -Pointing to the stretcher, he asked mechanically: "What's that?" - -The workmen answered: - -"`That' is Joseph Buquet, who was found in the third cellar, -hanging between a farm-house and a scene from the ROI DE LAHORE." - -He took off his hat, fell back to make room for the procession -and went out. - - - -Chapter III The Mysterious Reason - - -During this time, the farewell ceremony was taking place. -I have already said that this magnificent function was being given -on the occasion of the retirement of M. Debienne and M. Poligny, -who had determined to "die game," as we say nowadays. They had been -assisted in the realization of their ideal, though melancholy, -program by all that counted in the social and artistic world of Paris. -All these people met, after the performance, in the foyer of the ballet, -where Sorelli waited for the arrival of the retiring managers -with a glass of champagne in her hand and a little prepared speech -at the tip of her tongue. Behind her, the members of the Corps -de Ballet, young and old, discussed the events of the day in whispers -or exchanged discreet signals with their friends, a noisy crowd -of whom surrounded the supper-tables arranged along the slanting floor. - -A few of the dancers had already changed into ordinary dress; but most -of them wore their skirts of gossamer gauze; and all had thought it -the right thing to put on a special face for the occasion: all, that is, -except little Jammes, whose fifteen summers--happy age!--seemed already -to have forgotten the ghost and the death of Joseph Buquet. She never -ceased to laugh and chatter, to hop about and play practical jokes, -until Mm. Debienne and Poligny appeared on the steps of the foyer, -when she was severely called to order by the impatient Sorelli. - -Everybody remarked that the retiring managers looked cheerful, -as is the Paris way. None will ever be a true Parisian who has -not learned to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one -of sadness, boredom or indifference over his inward joy. You know -that one of your friends is in trouble; do not try to console him: -he will tell you that he is already comforted; but, should he have met -with good fortune, be careful how you congratulate him: he thinks -it so natural that he is surprised that you should speak of it. -In Paris, our lives are one masked ball; and the foyer of the ballet -is the last place in which two men so "knowing" as M. Debienne -and M. Poligny would have made the mistake of betraying their grief, -however genuine it might be. And they were already smiling rather -too broadly upon Sorelli, who had begun to recite her speech, -when an exclamation from that little madcap of a Jammes broke -the smile of the managers so brutally that the expression of distress -and dismay that lay beneath it became apparent to all eyes: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -Jammes yelled these words in a tone of unspeakable terror; and her -finger pointed, among the crowd of dandies, to a face so pallid, -so lugubrious and so ugly, with two such deep black cavities -under the straddling eyebrows, that the death's head in question -immediately scored a huge success. - -"The Opera ghost! The Opera ghost!" Everybody laughed and pushed -his neighbor and wanted to offer the Opera ghost a drink, but he -was gone. He had slipped through the crowd; and the others vainly -hunted for him, while two old gentlemen tried to calm little Jammes -and while little Giry stood screaming like a peacock. - -Sorelli was furious; she had not been able to finish her speech; -the managers, had kissed her, thanked her and run away as fast as -the ghost himself. No one was surprised at this, for it was known -that they were to go through the same ceremony on the floor above, -in the foyer of the singers, and that finally they were themselves -to receive their personal friends, for the last time, in the great -lobby outside the managers' office, where a regular supper would -be served. - -Here they found the new managers, M. Armand Moncharmin and -M. Firmin Richard, whom they hardly knew; nevertheless, they were -lavish in protestations of friendship and received a thousand -flattering compliments in reply, so that those of the guests who had -feared that they had a rather tedious evening in store for them -at once put on brighter faces. The supper was almost gay and a -particularly clever speech of the representative of the government, -mingling the glories of the past with the successes of the future, -caused the greatest cordiality to prevail. - -The retiring managers had already handed over to their successors -the two tiny master-keys which opened all the doors--thousands of doors-- -of the Opera house. And those little keys, the object of general curiosity, -were being passed from hand to hand, when the attention of some of -the guests was diverted by their discovery, at the end of the table, -of that strange, wan and fantastic face, with the hollow eyes, -which had already appeared in the foyer of the ballet and been -greeted by little Jammes' exclamation: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -There sat the ghost, as natural as could be, except that he neither -ate nor drank. Those who began by looking at him with a smile ended -by turning away their heads, for the sight of him at once provoked -the most funereal thoughts. No one repeated the joke of the foyer, -no one exclaimed: - -"There's the Opera ghost!" - -He himself did not speak a word and his very neighbors could not -have stated at what precise moment he had sat down between them; -but every one felt that if the dead did ever come and sit at -the table of the living, they could not cut a more ghastly figure. -The friends of Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin thought that this -lean and skinny guest was an acquaintance of Debienne's or Poligny's, -while Debienne's and Poligny's friends believed that the cadaverous -individual belonged to Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin's party. - -The result was that no request was made for an explanation; -no unpleasant remark; no joke in bad taste, which might have offended -this visitor from the tomb. A few of those present who knew the story -of the ghost and the description of him given by the chief scene-shifter-- -they did not know of Joseph Buquet's death--thought, in their own minds, -that the man at the end of the table might easily have passed for him; -and yet, according to the story, the ghost had no nose and the person -in question had. But M. Moncharmin declares, in his Memoirs, -that the guest's nose was transparent: "long, thin and transparent" -are his exact words. I, for my part, will add that this might -very well apply to a false nose. M. Moncharmin may have taken -for transparcncy what was only shininess. Everybody knows -that orthopaedic science provides beautiful false noses for -those who have lost their noses naturally or as the result of an operation. - -Did the ghost really take a seat at the managers' supper-table -that night, uninvited? And can we be sure that the figure was -that of the Opera ghost himself? Who would venture to assert -as much? I mention the incident, not because I wish for a second -to make the reader believe--or even to try to make him believe-- -that the ghost was capable of such a sublime piece of impudence; -but because, after all, the thing is impossible. - -M. Armand Moncharmin, in chapter eleven of his Memoirs, says: - -"When I think of this first evening, I can not separate the secret -confided to us by MM. Debienne and Poligny in their office from -the presence at our supper of that GHOSTLY person whom none of us knew." - -What happened was this: Mm. Debienne and Poligny, sitting at -the center of the table, had not seen the man with the death's head. -Suddenly he began to speak. - -"The ballet-girls are right," he said. "The death of that poor -Buquet is perhaps not so natural as people think." - -Debienne and Poligny gave a start. - -"Is Buquet dead?" they cried. - -"Yes," replied the man, or the shadow of a man, quietly. "He was found, -this evening, hanging in the third cellar, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore." - -The two managers, or rather ex-managers, at once rose and stared -strangely at the speaker. They were more excited than they need -have been, that is to say, more excited than any one need be by -the announcement of the suicide of a chief scene-shifter. They looked -at each other. They, had both turned whiter than the table-cloth. -At last, Debienne made a sign to Mm. Richard and Moncharmin; -Poligny muttered a few words of excuse to the guests; and all four -went into the managers' office. I leave M. Mencharmin to complete -the story. In his Memoirs, he says: - -"Mm. Debienne and Poligny seemed to grow more and more excited, -and they appeared to have something very difficult to tell us. -First, they asked us if we knew the man, sitting at the end of the table, -who had told them of the death of Joseph Buquet; and, when we answered -in the negative, they looked still more concerned. They took the -master-keys from our hands, stared at them for a moment and advised -us to have new locks made, with the greatest secrecy, for the rooms, -closets and presses that we might wish to have hermetically closed. -They said this so funnily that we began to laugh and to ask if there -were thieves at the Opera. They replied that there was something worse, -which was the GHOST. We began to laugh again, feeling sure that -they were indulging in some joke that was intended to crown our -little entertainment. Then, at their request, we became `serious,' -resolving to humor them and to enter into the spirit of the game. -They told us that they never would have spoken to us of the ghost, -if they had not received formal orders from the ghost himself -to ask us to be pleasant to him and to grant any request that he -might make. However, in their relief at leaving a domain where -that tyrannical shade held sway, they had hesitated until the last -moment to tell us this curious story, which our skeptical minds -were certainly not prepared to entertain. But the announcement of -the death of Joseph Buquet had served them as a brutal reminder that, -whenever they had disregarded the ghost's wishes, some fantastic -or disastrous event had brought them to a sense of their dependence. - -"During these unexpected utterances made in a tone of the most secret -and important confidence, I looked at Richard. Richard, in his -student days, had acquired a great reputation for practical joking, -and he seemed to relish the dish which was being served up to him -in his turn. He did not miss a morsel of it, though the seasoning -was a little gruesome because of the death of Buquet. He nodded -his head sadly, while the others spoke, and his features assumed -the air of a man who bitterly regretted having taken over the Opera, -now that he knew that there was a ghost mixed up in the business. -I could think of nothing better than to give him a servile imitation -of this attitude of despair. However, in spite of all our efforts, -we could not, at the finish, help bursting out laughing in the faces -of MM. Debienne and Poligny, who, seeing us pass straight from -the gloomiest state of mind to one of the most insolent merriment, -acted as though they thought that we had gone mad. - -"The joke became a little tedious; and Richard asked half-seriously -and half in jest: - -"`But, after all, what does this ghost of yours want?' - -"M. Poligny went to his desk and returned with a copy of the -memorandum-book. The memorandum-book begins with the well-known -words saying that `the management of the Opera shall give to -the performance of the National Academy of Music the splendor that -becomes the first lyric stage in France' and ends with Clause 98, -which says that the privilege can be withdrawn if the manager -infringes the conditions stipulated in the memorandum-book. -This is followed by the conditions, which are four in number. - -"The copy produced by M. Poligny was written in black ink -and exactly similar to that in our possession, except that, -at the end, it contained a paragraph in red ink and in a queer, -labored handwriting, as though it had been produced by dipping -the heads of matches into the ink, the writing of a child -that has never got beyond the down-strokes and has not learned -to join its letters. This paragraph ran, word for word, as follows: - -"`5. Or if the manager, in any month, delay for more than a fortnight -the payment of the allowance which he shall make to the Opera ghost, -an allowance of twenty thousand francs a month, say two hundred -and forty thousand francs a year.' - -"M. Poligny pointed with a hesitating finger to this last clause, -which we certainly did not expect. - -"`Is this all? Does he not want anything else?' asked Richard, -with the greatest coolness. - -"`Yes, he does,' replied Poligny. - -"And he turned over the pages of the memorandum-book until he -came to the clause specifying the days on which certain private -boxes were to be reserved for the free use of the president of -the republic, the ministers and so on. At the end of this clause, -a line had been added, also in red ink: - -"`Box Five on the grand tier shall be placed at the disposal -of the Opera ghost for every performance.' - -"When we saw this, there was nothing else for us to do but to rise -from our chairs, shake our two predecessors warmly by the hand -and congratulate them on thinking of this charming little joke, -which proved that the old French sense of humor was never likely -to become extinct. Richard added that he now understood why MM. -Debienne and Poligny were retiring from the management of the National -Academy of Music. Business was impossible with so unreasonable -a ghost. - -"`Certainly, two hundred and forty thousand francs are not be picked up -for the asking,' said M. Poligny, without moving a muscle of his face. -`And have you considered what the loss over Box Five meant to us? -We did not sell it once; and not only that, but we had to return -the subscription: why, it's awful! We really can't work to keep ghosts! -We prefer to go away!' - -"`Yes,' echoed M. Debienne, `we prefer to go away. Let us go.' - -"And he stood up. Richard said: `But, after all all, it seems -to me that you were much too kind to the ghost. If I had such -a troublesome ghost as that, I should not hesitate to have him arrested.' - -"`But how? Where?' they cried, in chorus. `We have never seen him!' - -"`But when he comes to his box?' - -"'WE HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM IN HIS BOX.' - -"`Then sell it.' - -"`Sell the Opera ghost's box! Well, gentlemen, try it.' - -"Thereupon we all four left the office. Richard and I had `never -laughed so much in our lives.'" - - - -Chapter IV Box Five - - -Armand Moncharmin wrote such voluminous Memoirs during the fairly long -period of his co-management that we may well ask if he ever found -time to attend to the affairs of the Opera otherwise than by telling -what went on there. M. Moncharmin did not know a note of music, -but he called the minister of education and fine arts by his -Christian name, had dabbled a little in society journalism and enjoyed -a considerable private income. Lastly, he was a charming fellow -and showed that he was not lacking in intelligence, for, as soon as he -made up his mind to be a sleeping partner in the Opera, he selected -the best possible active manager and went straight to Firmin Richard. - -Firmin Richard was a very distinguished composer, who had published -a number of successful pieces of all kinds and who liked nearly every -form of music and every sort of musician. Clearly, therefore, it was -the duty of every sort of musician to like M. Firmin Richard. -The only things to be said against him were that he was rather -masterful in his ways and endowed with a very hasty temper. - -The first few days which the partners spent at the Opera were given -over to the delight of finding themselves the head of so magnificent -an enterprise; and they had forgotten all about that curious, -fantastic story of the ghost, when an incident occurred that -proved to them that the joke--if joke it were--was not over. -M. Firmin Richard reached his office that morning at eleven -o'clock. His secretary, M. Remy, showed him half a dozen letters -which he had not opened because they were marked "private." -One of the letters had at once attracted Richard's attention not -only because the envelope was addressed in red ink, but because he -seemed to have seen the writing before. He soon rememberd that it -was the red handwriting in which the memorandum-book had been -so curiously completed. He recognized the clumsy childish hand. -He opened the letter and read: - -DEAR MR. MANAGER: - -I am sorry to have to trouble you at a time when you must be -so very busy, renewing important engagements, signing fresh ones -and generally displaying your excellent taste. I know what you -have done for Carlotta, Sorelli and little Jammes and for a few -others whose admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected. - -Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them -to La Carlotta, who sings like a squirt and who ought never to -have been allowed to leave the Ambassadeurs and the Cafe Jacquin; -nor to La Sorelli, who owes her success mainly to the coach-builders; -nor to little Jammes, who dances like a calf in a field. And I am -not speaking of Christine Daae either, though her genius is certain, -whereas your jealousy prevents her from creating any important part. -When all is said, you are free to conduct your little business as you -think best, are you not? - -All the same, I should like to take advantage of the fact that you -have not yet turned Christine Daae out of doors by hearing her -this evening in the part of Siebel, as that of Margarita has been -forbidden her since her triumph of the other evening; and I will -ask you not to dispose of my box to-day nor on the FOLLOWING DAYS, -for I can not end this letter without telling you how disagreeably -surprised I have been once or twice, to hear, on arriving at the Opera, -that my box had been sold, at the box-office, by your orders. - -I did not protest, first, because I dislike scandal, and, second, -because I thought that your predecessors, MM. Debienne and Poligny, -who were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, -to mention my little fads to you. I have now received a reply -from those gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, -and this reply proves that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, -consequently, that you are treating me with outrageous contempt. -IF YOU WISH TO LIVE IN PEACE, YOU MUST NOT BEGIN BY TAKING AWAY -MY PRIVATE BOX. - -Believe me to be, dear Mr. Manager, without prejudice to these -little observations, - Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant, - OPERA GHOST. - -The letter was accompanied by a cutting from the agony-column -of the Revue Theatrale, which ran: - -O. G.--There is no excuse for R. and M. We told them and left -your memorandum-book in their hands. Kind regards. - -M. Firmin Richard had hardly finished reading this letter when -M. Armand Moncharmin entered, carrying one exactly similar. -They looked at each other and burst out laughing. - -"They are keeping up the joke," said M. Richard, "but I don't call -it funny." - -"What does it all mean?" asked M. Moncharmin. "Do they imagine that, -because they have been managers of the Opera, we are going to let -them have a box for an indefinite period?" - -"I am not in the mood to let myself be laughed at long," -said Firmin Richard. - -"It's harmless enough," observed Armand Moncharmin. "What is it -they really want? A box for to-night?" - -M. Firmin Richard told his secretary to send Box Five on the grand -tier to Mm. Debienne and Poligny, if it was not sold. It was not. -It was sent off to them. Debienne lived at the corner of the Rue -Scribe and the Boulevard des Capucines; Poligny, in the Rue Auber. -O. Ghost's two letters had been posted at the Boulevard des -Capucines post-office, as Moncharmin remarked after examining -the envelopes. - -"You see!" said Richard. - -They shrugged their shoulders and regretted that two men of that age -should amuse themselves with such childish tricks. - -"They might have been civil, for all that!" said Moncharmin. -"Did you notice how they treat us with regard to Carlotta, -Sorelli and Little Jammes?" - -"Why, my dear fellow, these two are mad with jealousy! To think that -they went to the expense of, an advertisement in the Revue Theatrale! -Have they nothing better to do?" - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "they seem to be greatly interested -in that little Christine Daae!" - -"You know as well as I do that she has the reputation of being -quite good," said Richard. - -"Reputations are easily obtained," replied Moncharmin. "Haven't I -a reputation for knowing all about music? And I don't know one key -from another." - -"Don't be afraid: you never had that reputation," Richard declared. - -Thereupon he ordered the artists to be shown in, who, for the last -two hours, had been walking up and down outside the door behind -which fame and fortune--or dismissal--awaited them. - -The whole day was spent in discussing, negotiating, signing or -cancelling contracts; and the two overworked managers went -to bed early, without so much as casting a glance at Box Five -to see whether M. Debienne and M. Poligny were enjoying the performance. - -Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost: - -DEAR, MR. MANAGER: - -Thanks. Charming evening. Daae exquisite. Choruses want waking up. -Carlotta a splendid commonplace instrument. Will write you soon -for the 240,000 francs, or 233,424 fr. 70 c., to be correct. -Mm. Debienne and Poligny have sent me the 6,575 fr. 30 c. -representing the first ten days of my allowance for the current year; -their privileges finished on the evening of the tenth inst. - -Kind regards. O. G. - -On the other hand, there was a letter from Mm. Debienne and Poligny: - -GENTLEMEN: - -We are much obliged for your kind thought of us, but you will -easily understand that the prospect of again hearing Faust, -pleasant though it is to ex-managers of the Opera, can not make us -forget that we have no right to occupy Box Five on the grand tier, -which is the exclusive property of HIM of whom we spoke to you when -we went through the memorandum-book with you for the last time. -See Clause 98, final paragraph. - -Accept, gentlemen, etc. - -"Oh, those fellows are beginning to annoy me!" shouted Firmin Richard, -snatching up the letter. - -And that evening Box Five was sold. - -The next morning, Mm. Richard and Moncharmin, on reaching their office, -found an inspector's report relating to an incident that had happened, -the night before, in Box Five. I give the essential part of the report: - -I was obliged to call in a municipal guard twice, this evening, -to clear Box Five on the grand tier, once at the beginning and once -in the middle of the second act. The occupants, who arrived -as the curtain rose on the second act, created a regular scandal -by their laughter and their ridiculous observations. There -were cries of "Hush!" all around them and the whole house was -beginning to protest, when the box-keeper came to fetch me. I entered -the box and said what I thought necessary. The people did not seem -to me to be in their right mind; and they made stupid remarks. -I said that, if the noise was repeated, I should be compelled -to clear the box. The moment I left, I heard the laughing again, -with fresh protests from the house. I returned with a municipal -guard, who turned them out. They protested, still laughing, -saying they would not go unless they had their money back. At last, -they became quiet and I allowed them to enter the box again. -The laughter at once recommenced; and, this time, I had them turned -out definitely. - -"Send for the inspector," said Richard to his secretary, who had -already read the report and marked it with blue pencil. - -M. Remy, the secretary, had foreseen the order and called -the inspector at once. - -"Tell us what happened," said Richard bluntly. - -The inspector began to splutter and referred to the report. - -"Well, but what were those people laughing at?" asked Moncharmin. - -"They must have been dining, sir, and seemed more inclined to lark -about than to listen to good music. The moment they entered the box, -they came out again and called the box-keeper, who asked them what -they wanted. They said, `Look in the box: there's no one there, -is there?' `No,' said the woman. `Well,' said they, `when we went in, -we heard a voice saying THAT THE BOX WAS TAKEN!'" - -M. Moncharmin could not help smiling as he looked at M. Richard; -but M. Richard did not smile. He himself had done too much in -that way in his time not to recognize, in the inspector's story, -all the marks of one of those practical jokes which begin -by amusing and end by enraging the victims. The inspector, -to curry favor with M. Moncharmin, who was smiling, thought it -best to give a smile too. A most unfortunate smile! M. Richard -glared at his subordinate, who thenceforth made it his business -to display a face of utter consternation. - -"However, when the people arrived," roared Richard, "there was -no one in the box, was there?" - -"Not a soul, sir, not a soul! Nor in the box on the right, nor in -the box on the left: not a soul, sir, I swear! The box-keeper -told it me often enough, which proves that it was all a joke." - -"Oh, you agree, do you?" said Richard. "You agree! It's a joke! -And you think it funny, no doubt?" - -"I think it in very bad taste, sir." - -"And what did the box-keeper say?" - -"Oh, she just said that it was the Opera ghost. That's all she said!" - -And the inspector grinned. But he soon found that he had made -a mistake in grinning, for the words had no sooner left his mouth -than M. Richard, from gloomy, became furious. - -"Send for the box-keeper!" he shouted. "Send for her! This minute! -This minute! And bring her in to me here! And turn all those -people out!" - -The inspector tried to protest, but Richard closed his mouth -with an angry order to hold his tongue. Then, when the wretched -man's lips seemed shut for ever, the manager commanded him to open -them once more. - -"Who is this `Opera ghost?'" he snarled. - -But the inspector was by this time incapable of speaking a word. -He managed to convey, by a despairing gesture, that he knew nothing -about it, or rather that he did not wish to know. - -"Have you ever seen him, have you seen the Opera ghost?" - -The inspector, by means of a vigorous shake of the head, denied ever -having seen the ghost in question. - -"Very well!" said M. Richard coldly. - -The inspector's eyes started out of his head, as though to ask why -the manager had uttered that ominous "Very well!" - -"Because I'm going to settle the account of any one who has not -seen him!" explained the manager. "As he seems to be everywhere, -I can't have people telling me that they see him nowhere. -I like people to work for me when I employ them!" - -Having said this, M. Richard paid no attention to the inspector -and discussed various matters of business with his acting-manager, -who had entered the room meanwhile. The inspector thought he -could go and was gently--oh, so gently!--sidling toward the door, -when M. Richard nailed the man to the floor with a thundering: - -"Stay where you are!" - -M. Remy had sent for the box-keeper to the Rue de Provence, -close to the Opera, where she was engaged as a porteress. -She soon made her appearance. - -"What's your name?" - -"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother -of little Giry, little Meg, what!" - -This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, -M. Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, -her worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite -evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know -or could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, -nor even "little Meg!" But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that -the celebrated box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her. - -"Never heard of her!" the manager declared. "But that's no reason, -Mme. Giry, why I shouldn't ask you what happened last night to make -you and the inspector call in a municipal guard - -"I was just wanting to see you, sir, and talk to you about it, -so that you mightn't have the same unpleasantness as M. Debienne -and M. Poligny. They wouldn't listen to me either, at first." - -"I'm not asking you about all that. I'm asking what happened -last night." - -Mme. Giry turned purple with indignation. Never had she been -spoken to like that. She rose as though to go, gathering up -the folds of her skirt and waving the feathers of her dingy bonnet -with dignity, but, changing her mind, she sat down again and said, -in a haughty voice: - -"I'll tell you what happened. The ghost was annoyed again!" - -Thereupon, as M. Richard was on the point of bursting out, M. Moncharmin -interfered and conducted the interrogatory, whence it appeared -that Mme. Giry thought it quite natural that a voice should be heard -to say that a box was taken, when there was nobody in the box. -She was unable to explain this phenomenon, which was not new to her, -except by the intervention of the ghost. Nobody could see the ghost -in his box, but everybody could hear him. She had often heard him; -and they could believe her, for she always spoke the truth. -They could ask M. Debienne and M. Poligny, and anybody who knew her; -and also M. Isidore Saack, who had had a leg broken by the ghost! - -"Indeed!" said Moncharmin, interrupting her. "Did the ghost break -poor Isidore Saack's leg?" - -Mme. Giry opened her eyes with astonishment at such ignorance. -However, she consented to enlighten those two poor innocents. -The thing had happened in M. Debienne and M. Poligny's time, also in -Box Five and also during a performance of FAUST. Mme. Giry coughed, -cleared her throat--it sounded as though she were preparing to sing -the whole of Gounod's score--and began: - -"It was like this, sir. That night, M. Maniera and his lady, -the jewelers in the Rue Mogador, were sitting in the front of the box, -with their great friend, M. Isidore Saack, sitting behind Mme. Maniera. -Mephistopheles was singing"--Mme. Giry here burst into song herself--" -`Catarina, while you play at sleeping,' and then M. Maniera heard -a voice in his right ear (his wife was on his left) saying, `Ha, ha! -Julie's not playing at sleeping!' His wife happened to be called -Julie. So. M. Maniera turns to the right to see who was talking -to him like that. Nobody there! He rubs his ear and asks himself, -if he's dreaming. Then Mephistopheles went on with his serenade. -... But, perhaps I'm boring you gentlemen?" - -"No, no, go on." - -"You are too good, gentlemen," with a smirk. "Well, then, -Mephistopheles went on with his serenade"--Mme. Giry, burst into -song again--" `Saint, unclose thy portals holy and accord the bliss, -to a mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss.' And then M. Maniera -again hears the voice in his right ear, saying, this time, `Ha, ha! -Julie wouldn't mind according a kiss to Isidore!' Then he turns -round again, but, this time, to the left; and what do you think -he sees? Isidore, who had taken his lady's hand and was covering -it with kisses through the little round place in the glove-- -like this, gentlemen"--rapturously kissing the bit of palm left bare -in the middle of her thread gloves. "Then they had a lively time -between them! Bang! Bang! M. Maniera, who was big and strong, -like you, M. Richard, gave two blows to M. Isidore Saack, -who was small and weak like M. Moncharmin, saving his presence. -There was a great uproar. People in the house shouted, `That will do! -Stop them! He'll kill him!' Then, at last, M. Isidore Saack managed -to run away." - -"Then the ghost had not broken his leg?" asked M. Moncharmin, -a little vexed that his figure had made so little impression on -Mme. Giry. - -"He did break it for him, sir," replied Mme. Giry haughtily. -"He broke it for him on the grand staircase, which he ran down -too fast, sir, and it will be long before the poor gentleman will -be able to go up it again!" - -"Did the ghost tell you what he said in M. Maniera's right ear?" -asked M. Moncharmin, with a gravity which he thought exceedingly humorous. - -"No, sir, it was M. Maniera himself. So----" - -"But you have spoken to the ghost, my good lady?" - -"As I'm speaking to you now, my good sir!" Mme. Giry replied. - -"And, when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?" - -"Well, he tells me to bring him a footstool!" - -This time, Richard burst out laughing, as did Moncharmin and Remy, -the secretary. Only the inspector, warned by experience, was careful -not to laugh, while Mme. Giry ventured to adopt an attitude that -was positively threatening. - -"Instead of laughing," she cried indignantly, "you'd do better -to do as M. Poligny did, who found out for himself." - -"Found out about what?" asked Moncharmin, who had never been so much -amused in his life. - -"About the ghost, of course!...Look here..." - -She suddenly calmed herself, feeling that this was a solemn moment -in her life: - -"LOOK HERE," she repeated. "They were playing La Juive. M. Poligny -thought he would watch the performance from the ghost's box. -...Well, when Leopold cries, `Let us fly!'--you know--and Eleazer -stops them and says, `Whither go ye?'...well, M. Poligny-- -I was watching him from the back of the next box, which was empty-- -M. Poligny got up and walked out quite stiffly, like a statue, -and before I had time to ask him, `Whither go ye?' like Eleazer, -he was down the staircase, but without breaking his leg. - -"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask -you for a footstool," insisted M. Moncharmin. - -"Well, from that evening, no one tried to take the ghost's private -box from him. The manager gave orders that he was to have it at -each performance. And, whenever he came, he asked me for a footstool." - -"Tut, tut! A ghost asking for a footstool! Then this ghost -of yours is a woman?" - -"No, the ghost is a man." - -"How do you know?" - -"He has a man's voice, oh, such a lovely man's voice! This is -what happens: When he comes to the opera, it's usually in the middle -of the first act. He gives three little taps on the door of Box Five. -The first time I heard those three taps, when I knew there was -no one in the box, you can think how puzzled I was! I opened -the door, listened, looked; nobody! And then I heard a voice say, -`Mme. Jules' my poor husband's name was Jules--`a footstool, please.' -Saving your presence, gentlemen, it made me feel all-overish like. -But the voice went on, `Don't be frightened, Mme. Jules, I'm the -Opera ghost!' And the voice was so soft and kind that I hardly -felt frightened. THE VOICE WAS SITTING IN THE CORNER CHAIR, -ON THE RIGHT, IN THE FRONT ROW." - -"Was there any one in the box on the right of Box Five?" -asked Moncharmin. - -"No; Box Seven, and Box Three, the one on the left, were both empty. -The curtain had only just gone up." - -"And what did you do?" - -"Well, I brought the footstool. Of course, it wasn't for himself -he wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her." - -"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!" The eyes of the two -managers traveled from Mme. Giry to the inspector, who, standing behind -the box-keeper, was waving his arms to attract their attention. -He tapped his forehead with a distressful forefinger, to convey -his opinion that the widow Jules Giry was most certainly mad, -a piece of pantomime which confirmed M. Richard in his determination -to get rid of an inspector who kept a lunatic in his service. -Meanwhile, the worthy lady went on about her ghost, now painting -his generosity: - -"At the end of the performance, he always gives me two francs, -sometimes five, sometimes even ten, when he has been many days -without coming. Only, since people have begun to annoy him again, -he gives me nothing at all. - -"Excuse me, my good woman," said Moncharmin, while Mme. Giry tossed -the feathers in her dingy hat at this persistent familiarity, -"excuse me, how does the ghost manage to give you your two francs?" - -"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course. -I find them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, -I find flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his -lady's bodice...for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, -they left a fan behind them." - -"Oh, the ghost left a fan, did he? And what did you do with it?" - -"Well, I brought it back to the box next night." - -Here the inspector's voice was raised. - -"You've broken the rules; I shall have to fine you, Mme. Giry." - -"Hold your tongue, you fool!" muttered M. Firmin Richard. - -"You brought back the fan. And then?" - -"Well, then, they took it away with them, sir; it was not there -at the end of the performance; and in its place they left me a box -of English sweets, which I'm very fond of. That's one of the ghost's -pretty thoughts." - -"That will do, Mme. Giry. You can go." - -When Mme. Giry had bowed herself out, with the dignity that never -deserted her, the manager told the inspector that they had decided -to dispense with that old madwoman's services; and, when he -had gone in his turn, they instructed the acting-manager to make -up the inspector's accounts. Left alone, the managers told -each other of the idea which they both had in mind, which was -that they should look into that little matter of Box Five themselves. - - - -Chapter V The Enchanted Violin - - -Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, -did not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera. After the -famous gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; -but this was the last occasion on which she was heard in private. -She refused, without plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert -to which she had promised her assistance. She acted throughout -as though she were no longer the mistress of her own destiny and as -though she feared a fresh triumph. - -She knew that the Comte de Chagny, to please his brother, had done -his best on her behalf with M. Richard; and she wrote to thank him -and also to ask him to cease speaking in her favor. Her reason -for this curious attitude was never known. Some pretended that it -was due to overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty. -But people on the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think -that I shall not be far from the truth if I ascribe her action -simply to fear. Yes, I believe that Christine Daae was frightened -by what had happened to her. I have a letter of Christine's (it -forms part of the Persian's collection), relating to this period, -which suggests a feeling of absolute dismay: - -"I don't know myself when I sing," writes the poor child. - -She showed herself nowhere; and the Vicomte de Chagny tried -in vain to meet her. He wrote to her, asking to call upon her, -but despaired of receiving a reply when, one morning, she sent -him the following note: - -MONSIEUR: - -I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea -to rescue my scarf. I feel that I must write to you to-day, -when I am going to Perros, in fulfilment of a sacred duty. -To-morrow is the anniversary of the death of my poor father, -whom you knew and who was very fond of you. He is buried there, -with his violin, in the graveyard of the little church, at the bottom -of the slope where we used to play as children, beside the road where, -when we were a little bigger, we said good-by for the last time. - -The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, -dressed as quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet -to take to his brother and jumped into a cab which brought him -to the Gare Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train. -He spent a dismal day in town and did not recover his spirits -until the evening, when he was seated in his compartment in the -Brittany express. He read Christine's note over and over again, -smelling its perfume, recalling the sweet pictures of his childhood, -and spent the rest of that tedious night journey in feverish dreams -that began and ended with Christine Daae. Day was breaking when he -alighted at Lannion. He hurried to the diligence for Perros-Guirec. -He was the only passenger. He questioned the driver and learned that, -on the evening of the previous day, a young lady who looked -like a Parisian had gone to Perros and put up at the inn known -as the Setting Sun. - -The nearer he drew to her, the more fondly he remembered the story -of the little Swedish singer. Most of the details are still unknown -to the public. - -There was once, in a little market-town not far from Upsala, a peasant -who lived there with his family, digging the earth during the week -and singing in the choir on Sundays. This peasant had a little daughter -to whom he taught the musical alphabet before she knew how to read. -Daae's father was a great musician, perhaps without knowing it. -Not a fiddler throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia -played as he did. His reputation was widespread and he was always -invited to set the couples dancing at weddings and other festivals. -His wife died when Christine was entering upon her sixth year. -Then the father, who cared only for his daughter and his music, sold his -patch of ground and went to Upsala in search of fame and fortune. -He found nothing but poverty. - -He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, -strumming his Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never -left his side, listened to him in esctasy or sang to his playing. -One day, at Ljimby Fair, Professor Valerius heard them and took -them to Gothenburg. He maintained that the father was the first -violinist in the world and that the daughter had the making of a -great artist. Her education and instruction were provided for. -She made rapid progress and charmed everybody with her prettiness, -her grace of manner and her genuine eagerness to please. - -When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae -and Christine with them. "Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as -her daughter. As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness. -He never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream -which he kept up with his violin. For hours at a time, he remained -locked up in his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, -very, very softly. Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen -behind the door, wipe away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, -sighing for her Scandinavian skies. - -Daae seemed not to recover his strength until the summer, -when the whole family went to stay at Perros-Guirec, in a far-away -corner of Brittany, where the sea was of the same color as in his -own country. Often he would play his saddest tunes on the beach -and pretend that the sea stopped its roaring to listen to them. -And then he induced Mamma Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his. -At the time of the "pardons," or Breton pilgrimages, the village -festival and dances, he went off with his fiddle, as in the old days, -and was allowed to take his daughter with him for a week. -They gave the smallest hamlets music to last them for a year and -slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at the inn, lying close -together on the straw, as when they were so poor in Sweden. -At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no collection, -refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around could -not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped -the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven. -They followed them from village to village. - -One day, a little boy, who was out with his governess, made her take -a longer walk than he intended, for he could not tear himself from -the little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed to bind him to her. -They came to the shore of an inlet which is still called Trestraou, -but which now, I believe, harbors a casino or something of the sort. -At that time, there was nothing but sky and sea and a stretch -of golden beach. Only, there was also a high wind, which blew -Christine's scarf out to sea. Christine gave a cry and put out -her arms, but the scarf was already far on the waves. Then she heard -a voice say: - -"It's all right, I'll go and fetch your scarf out of the sea." - -And she saw a little boy running fast, in spite of the outcries -and the indignant protests of a worthy lady in black. The little boy -ran into the sea, dressed as he was, and brought her back her scarf. -Boy and scarf were both soaked through. The lady in black made a -great fuss, but Christine laughed merrily and kissed the little boy, -who was none other than the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, staying at -Lannion with his aunt. - -During the season, they saw each other and played together almost -every day. At the aunt's request, seconded by Professor Valerius, -Daae consented to give the young viscount some violin lessons. -In this way, Raoul learned to love the same airs that had charmed -Christine's childhood. They also both had the same calm and dreamy -little cast of mind. They delighted in stories, in old Breton legends; -and their favorite sport was to go and ask for them at the cottage-doors, -like beggars: - -"Ma'am..." or, "Kind gentleman...have you a little story -to tell us, please?" - -And it seldom happened that they did not have one "given" them; -for nearly every old Breton grandame has, at least once in her life, -seen the "korrigans" dance by moonlight on the heather. - -But their great treat was, in the twilight, in the great silence -of the evening, after the sun had set in the sea, when Daae came -and sat down by them on the roadside and, in a low voice, as though -fearing lest he should frighten the ghosts whom he evoked, told them -the legends of the land of the North. And, the moment he stopped, -the children would ask for more. - -There was one story that began: - -"A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep, still lakes -that open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian mountains..." - -And another: - -"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden -as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes. -She wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her -frock and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, -when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music." - -While the old man told this story, Raoul looked at Christine's -blue eyes and golden hair; and Christine thought that Lotte was -very lucky to hear the Angel of Music when she went to sleep. -The Angel of Music played a part in all Daddy Daae's tales; -and he maintained that every great musician, every great artist -received a visit from the Angel at least once in his life. -Sometimes the Angel leans over their cradle, as happened to Lotte, -and that is how there are little prodigies who play the fiddle -at six better than men at fifty, which, you must admit, -is very wonderful. Sometimes, the Angel comes much later, -because the children are naughty and won't learn their lessons -or practise their scales. And, sometimes, he does not come at all, -because the children have a bad heart or a bad conscience. - -No one ever sees the Angel; but he is heard by those who are meant -to hear him. He often comes when they least expect him, when they -are sad and disheartened. Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial -harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives. -Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown -to the rest of mankind. And they can not touch an instrument, -or open their mouths to sing, without producing sounds that put -all other human sounds to shame. Then people who do not know -that the Angel has visited those persons say that they have genius. - -Little Christine asked her father if he had heard the Angel of Music. -But Daddy Daae shook his head sadly; and then his eyes lit up, -as he said: - -"You will hear him one day, my child! When I am in Heaven, -I will send him to you!" - -Daddy was beginning to cough at that time. - -Three years later, Raoul and Christine met again at Perros. -Professor Valerius was dead, but his widow remained in France -with Daddy Daae and his daughter, who continued to play the violin -and sing, wrapping in their dream of harmony their kind patroness, -who seemed henceforth to live on music alone. The young man, -as he now was, had come to Perros on the chance of finding them -and went straight to the house in which they used to stay. -He first saw the old man; and then Christine entered, carrying the -tea-tray. She flushed at the sight of Raoul, who went up to her -and kissed her. She asked him a few questions, performed her duties -as hostess prettily, took up the tray again and left the room. -Then she ran into the garden and took refuge on a bench, a prey -to feelings that stirred her young heart for the first time. -Raoul followed her and they talked till the evening, very shyly. -They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each -other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments. -When they took leave of each other by the roadside, Raoul, pressing a -kiss on Christine's trembling hand, said: - -"Mademoiselle, I shall never forget you!" - -And he went away regretting his words, for he knew that Christine -could not be the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny. - -As for Christine, she tried not to think of him and devoted herself -wholly to her art. She made wonderful progress and those who heard -her prophesied that she would be the greatest singer in the world. -Meanwhile, the father died; and, suddenly, she seemed to have lost, -with him, her voice, her soul and her genius. She retained just, -but only just, enough of this to enter the CONSERVATOIRE, where she -did not distinguish herself at all, attending the classes without -enthusiasm and taking a prize only to please old Mamma Valerius, -with whom she continued to live. - -The first time that Raoul saw Christine at the Opera, he was charmed -by the girl's beauty and by the sweet images of the past which -it evoked, but was rather surprised at the negative side of her art. -He returned to listen to her. He followed her in the wings. He waited -for her behind a Jacob's ladder. He tried to attract her attention. -More than once, he walked after her to the door of her box, but she -did not see him. She seemed, for that matter, to see nobody. -She was all indifference. Raoul suffered, for she was very beautiful -and he was shy and dared not confess his love, even to himself. -And then came the lightning-flash of the gala performance: -the heavens torn asunder and an angel's voice heard upon earth for -the delight of mankind and the utter capture of his heart. - -And then...and then there was that man's voice behind -the door--"You must love me!"--and no one in the room. ... - -Why did she laugh when he reminded her of the incident of the scarf? -Why did she not recognize him? And why had she written to him?... - -Perros was reached at last. Raoul walked into the smoky sitting-room -of the Setting Sun and at once saw Christine standing before him, -smiling and showing no astonishment. - -"So you have come," she said. "I felt that I should find you here, -when I came back from mass. Some one told me so, at the church." - -"Who?" asked Raoul, taking her little hand in his. - -"Why, my poor father, who is dead." - -There was a silence; and then Raoul asked: - -"Did your father tell you that I love you, Christine, and that I -can not live without you?" - -Christine blushed to the eyes and turned away her head. -In a trembling voice, she said: - -"Me? You are dreaming, my friend!" - -And she burst out laughing, to put herself in countenance. - -"Don't laugh, Christine; I am quite serious," Raoul answered. - -And she replied gravely: "I did not make you come to tell me -such things as that." - -"You `made me come,' Christine; you knew that your letter would -not leave me indignant and that I should hasten to Perros. -How can you have thought that, if you did not think I loved you?" - -"I thought you would remember our games here, as children, in which -my father so often joined. I really don't know what I thought. -... Perhaps I was wrong to write to you....This anniversary -and your sudden appearance in my room at the Opera, the other evening, -reminded me of the time long past and made me write to you as -the little girl that I then was. ..." - -There was something in Christine's attitude that seemed to Raoul -not natural. He did not feel any hostility in her; far from it: -the distressed affection shining in her eyes told him that. -But why was this affection distressed? That was what he wished to know -and what was irritating him. - -"When you saw me in your dressing-room, was that the first time -you noticed me, Christine?" - -She was incapable of lying. - -"No," she said, "I had seen you several times in your brother's box. -And also on the stage." - -"I thought so!" said Raoul, compressing his lips. "But then why, -when you saw me in your room, at your feet, reminding you that I -had rescued your scarf from the sea, why did you answer as though -you did not know me and also why did you laugh?" - -The tone of these questions was so rough that Christine stared -at Raoul without replying. The young man himself was aghast at -the sudden quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment -when he had resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and -submission to Christine. A husband, a lover with all rights, -would talk no differently to a wife, a mistress who had offended him. -But he had gone too far and saw no other way out of the ridiculous -position than to behave odiously. - -"You don't answer!" he said angrily and unhappily. "Well, I will -answer for you. It was because there was some one in the room -who was in your way, Christine, some one that you did not wish -to know that you could be interested in any one else!" - -"If any one was in my way, my friend," Christine broke in coldly, -"if any one was in my way, that evening, it was yourself, since I -told you to leave the room!" - -"Yes, so that you might remain with the other!" - -"What are you saying, monsieur?" asked the girl excitedly. -"And to what other do you refer?" - -"To the man to whom you said, `I sing only for you!...to-night -I gave you my soul and I am dead!'" - -Christine seized Raoul's arm and clutched it with a strength -which no one would have suspected in so frail a creature. - -"Then you were listening behind the door?" - -"Yes, because I love you everything....And I heard everything...." - -"You heard what?" - -And the young girl, becoming strangely calm, released Raoul's arm. - -"He said to you, `Christine, you must love me!'" - -At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, -dark rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the -point of swooning. Raoul darted forward, with arms outstretched, -but Christine had overcome her passing faintness and said, -in a low voice: - -"Go on! Go on! Tell me all you heard!" - -At an utter loss to understand, Raoul answered: "I heard -him reply, when you said you had given him your soul, -`Your soul is a beautiful thing, child, and I thank you. -No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.'" - -Christine carried her hand to her heart, a prey to indescribable -emotion. Her eyes stared before her like a madwoman's. Raoul -was terror-stricken. But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened -and two great tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks. - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul!" - -The young man tried to take her in his arms, but she escaped -and fled in great disorder. - -While Christine remained locked in her room, Raoul was at his wit's -end what to do. He refused to breakfast. He was terribly concerned -and bitterly grieved to see the hours, which he had hoped to find -so sweet, slip past without the presence of the young Swedish girl. -Why did she not come to roam with him through the country where they -had so many memories in common? He heard that she had had a mass said, -that morning, for the repose of her father's soul and spent a long -time praying in the little church and on the fiddler's tomb. -Then, as she seemed to have nothing more to do at Perros and, -in fact, was doing nothing there, why did she not go back to Paris -at once? - -Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church -stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; -but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the -dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground. -They were marvelous red roses that had blossomed in the morning, -in the snow, giving a glimpse of life among the dead, for death was -all around him. It also, like the flowers, issued from the ground, -which had flung back a number of its corpses. Skeletons and skulls -by the hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in -position by a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible. -Dead men's bones, arranged in rows, like bricks, to form the first -course upon which the walls of the sacristy had been built. -The door of the sacristy opened in the middle of that bony structure, -as is often seen in old Breton churches. - -Raoul said a prayer for Daae and then, painfully impressed by all -those eternal smiles on the mouths of skulls, he climbed the slope -and sat down on the edge of the heath overlooking the sea. -The wind fell with the evening. Raoul was surrounded by icy darkness, -but he did not feel the cold. It was here, he remembered, -that he used to come with little Christine to see the Korrigans -dance at the rising of the moon. He had never seen any, though his -eyes were good, whereas Christine, who was a little shortsighted, -pretended that she had seen many. He smiled at the thought and then -suddenly gave a start. A voice behind him said: - -"Do you think the Korrigans will come this evening?" - -It was Christine. He tried to speak. She put her gloved hand -on his mouth. - -"Listen, Raoul. I have decided to tell you something serious, -very serious....Do you remember the legend of the Angel -of Music?" - -"I do indeed," he said. "I believe it was here that your father -first told it to us." - -"And it was here that he said, `When I am in Heaven, my child, -I will send him to you.' Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, -and I have been visited by the Angel of Music." - -"I have no doubt of it," replied the young man gravely, for it -seemed to him that his friend, in obedience to a pious thought, -was connecting the memory of her father with the brilliancy of her -last triumph. - -Christine appeared astonished at the Vicomte de Chagny's coolness: - -"How do you understand it?" she asked, bringing her pale face -so close to his that he might have thought that Christine was going -to give him a kiss; but she only wanted to read his eyes in spite -of the dark. - -"I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you -sang the other evening without the intervention of some miracle. -No professor on earth can teach you such accents as those. -You have heard the Angel of Music, Christine." - -"Yes," she said solemnly, "IN MY DRESSING-ROOM. That is where he -comes to give me my lessons daily." - -"In your dressing-room?" he echoed stupidly. - -"Yes, that is where I have heard him; and I have not been the only -one to hear him." - -"Who else heard him, Christine?" - -"You, my friend." - -"I? I heard the Angel of Music?" - -"Yes, the other evening, it was he who was talking when you were -listening behind the door. It was he who said, `You must love me.' -But I then thought that I was the only one to hear his voice. -Imagine my astonishment when you told me, this morning, that you could -hear him too," - -Raoul burst out laughing. The first rays of the moon came and -shrouded the two young people in their light. Christine turned -on Raoul with a hostile air. Her eyes, usually so gentle, flashed fire. - -"What are you laughing at? YOU think you heard a man's voice, -I suppose?" - -"Well!..." replied the young man, whose ideas began to grow -confused in the face of Christine's determined attitude. - -"It's you, Raoul, who say that? You, an old playfellow of my own! -A friend of my father's! But you have changed since those days. -What are you thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, -and I don't lock myself up in my dressing-room with men's voices. -If you had opened the door, you would have seen that there was nobody -in the room!" - -"That's true! I did open the door, when you were gone, and I found -no one in the room." - -"So you see!...Well?" - -The viscount summoned up all his courage. - -"Well, Christine, I think that somebody is making game of you." - -She gave a cry and ran away. He ran after her, but, in a tone -of fierce anger, she called out: "Leave me! Leave me!" -And she disappeared. - -Raoul returned to the inn feeling very weary, very low-spirited -and very sad. He was told that Christine had gone to her bedroom -saying that she would not be down to dinner. Raoul dined alone, -in a very gloomy mood. Then he went to his room and tried to read, -went to bed and tried to sleep. There was no sound in the next room. - -The hours passed slowly. It was about half-past eleven when he -distinctly heard some one moving, with a light, stealthy step, -in the room next to his. Then Christine had not gone to bed! -Without troubling for a reason, Raoul dressed, taking care not -to make a sound, and waited. Waited for what? How could he tell? -But his heart thumped in his chest when he heard Christine's door -turn slowly on its hinges. Where could she be going, at this hour, -when every one was fast asleep at Perros? Softly opening the door, he saw -Christine's white form, in the moonlight, slipping along the passage. -She went down the stairs and he leaned over the baluster above her. -Suddenly he heard two voices in rapid conversation. He caught -one sentence: "Don't lose the key." - -It was the landlady's voice. The door facing the sea was opened -and locked again. Then all was still. - -Raoul ran back to his room and threw back the window. -Christine's white form stood on the deserted quay. - -The first floor of the Setting Sun was at no great height and a tree -growing against the wall held out its branches to Raoul's impatient -arms and enabled him to climb down unknown to the landlady. -Her amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, -the young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead -than alive, and when she learned that he had been found stretched -at full length on the steps of the high altar of the little church. -She ran at once to tell Christine, who hurried down and, -with the help of the landlady, did her best to revive him. -He soon opened his eyes and was not long in recovering when he saw -his friend's charming face leaning over him. - -A few weeks later, when the tragedy at the Opera compelled the intervention -of the public prosecutor, M. Mifroid, the commissary of police, examined the -Vicomte de Chagny touching the events of the night at Perros. I quote -the questions and answers as given in the official report pp. 150 et seq.: - -Q. "Did Mlle. Daae not see you come down from your room -by the curious road which you selected?" - -R. "No, monsieur, no, although, when walking behind her, I took no -pains to deaden the sound of my footsteps. In fact, I was anxious -that she should turn round and see me. I realized that I had no excuse -for following her and that this way of spying on her was unworthy -of me. But she seemed not to hear me and acted exactly as though -I were not there. She quietly left the quay and then suddenly -walked quickly up the road. The church-clock had struck a quarter -to twelve and I thought that this must have made her hurry, for she -began almost to run and continued hastening until she came to the church." - -Q. "Was the gate open?" - -R. "Yes, monsieur, and this surprised me, but did not seem -to surprise Mlle. Daae." - -Q. "Was there no one in the churchyard?" - -R. "I did not see any one; and, if there had been, I must have seen him. -The moon was shining on the snow and made the night quite light." - -Q. "Was it possible for any one to hide behind the tombstones?" - -R. "No, monsieur. They were quite small, poor tombstones, partly hidden -under the snow, with their crosses just above the level of the ground. -The only shadows were those of the crosses and ourselves. -The church stood out quite brightly. I never saw so clear a night. -It was very fine and very cold and one could see everything." - -Q. "Are you at all superstitious?" - -R. "No, monsieur, I am a practising Catholic," - -Q. "In what condition of mind were you?" - -R. "Very healthy and peaceful, I assure you. Mlle. Daae's curious -action in going out at that hour had worried me at first; but, as soon -as I saw her go to the churchyard, I thought that she meant to fulfil -some pious duty on her father's grave and I considered this so natural -that I recovered all my calmness. I was only surprised that she -had not heard me walking behind her, for my footsteps were quite -audible on the hard snow. But she must have been taken up with her -intentions and I resolved not to disturb her. She knelt down by -her father's grave, made the sign of the cross and began to pray. -At that moment, it struck midnight. At the last stroke, I saw -Mlle. Daae life{sic} her eyes to the sky and stretch out her arms -as though in ecstasy. I was wondering what the reason could be, -when I myself raised my head and everything within me seemed drawn -toward the invisible, WHICH WAS PLAYING THE MOST PERFECT MUSIC! -Christine and I knew that music; we had heard it as children. -But it had never been executed with such divine art, even by M. Daae. -I remembered all that Christine had told me of the Angel of Music. -The air was The Resurrection of Lazarus, which old M. Daae -used to play to us in his hours of melancholy and of faith. -If Christine's Angel had existed, he could not have played better, -that night, on the late musician's violin. When the music stopped, -I seemed to hear a noise from the skulls in the heap of bones; -it was as though they were chuckling and I could not help shuddering." - -Q. "Did it not occur to you that the musician might be hiding -behind that very heap of bones?" - -R. "It was the one thought that did occur to me, monsieur, so much -so that I omitted to follow Mlle. Daae, when she stood up and walked -slowly to the gate. She was so much absorbed just then that I -am not surprised that she did not see me." - -Q. "Then what happened that you were found in the morning lying -half-dead on the steps of the high altar?" - -R. "First a skull rolled to my feet...then another...then -another...It was as if I were the mark of that ghastly game -of bowls. And I had an idea that false step must have destroyed -the balance of the structure behind which our musician was concealed. -This surmise seemed to be confirmed when I saw a shadow suddenly -glide along the sacristy wall. I ran up. The shadow had already -pushed open the door and entered the church. But I was quicker than -the shadow and caught hold of a corner of its cloak. At that moment, -we were just in front of the high altar; and the moonbeams fell -straight upon us through the stained-glass windows of the apse. -As I did not let go of the cloak, the shadow turned round; and I -saw a terrible death's head, which darted a look at me from a pair -of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan; -and, in the presence of this unearthly apparition, my heart gave way, -my courage failed me...and I remember nothing more until I -recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun." - - - -Chapter V A Visit to Box Five - - -We left M. Firmin Richard and M. Armand Moncharmin at the moment -when they were deciding "to look into that little matter of Box Five." - -Leaving behind them the broad staircase which leads from the lobby -outside the managers' offices to the stage and its dependencies, -they crossed the stage, went out by the subscribers' door and -entered the house through the first little passage on the left. -Then they made their way through the front rows of stalls and -looked at Box Five on the grand tier, They could not see it well, -because it was half in darkness and because great covers were flung -over the red velvet of the ledges of all the boxes. - -They were almost alone in the huge, gloomy house; and a great silence -surrounded them. It was the time when most of the stage-hands go -out for a drink. The staff had left the boards for the moment, -leaving a scene half set. A few rays of light, a wan, sinister light, -that seemed to have been stolen from an expiring luminary, -fell through some opening or other upon an old tower that raised -its pasteboard battlements on the stage; everything, in this -deceptive light, adopted a fantastic shape. In the orchestra stalls, -the drugget covering them looked like an angry sea, whose glaucous -waves had been suddenly rendered stationary by a secret order -from the storm phantom, who, as everybody knows, is called Adamastor. -MM. Moncharmin and Richard were the shipwrecked mariners -amid this motionless turmoil of a calico sea. They made -for the left boxes, plowing their way like sailors who leave their -ship and try to struggle to the shore. The eight great polished -columns stood up in the dusk like so many huge piles supporting -the threatening, crumbling, big-bellied cliffs whose layers were -represented by the circular, parallel, waving lines of the balconies -of the grand, first and second tiers of boxes. At the top, -right on top of the cliff, lost in M. Lenepveu's copper ceiling, -figures grinned and grimaced, laughed and jeered at MM. Richard and -Moncharmin's distress. And yet these figures were usually very serious. -Their names were Isis, Amphitrite, Hebe, Pandora, Psyche, Thetis, -Pomona, Daphne, Clytie, Galatea and Arethusa. Yes, Arethusa herself -and Pandora, whom we all know by her box, looked down upon the two -new managers of the Opera, who ended by clutching at some piece -of wreckage and from there stared silently at Box Five on the grand tier. - -I have said that they were distressed. At least, I presume so. -M. Moncharmin, in any case, admits that he was impressed. To quote -his own words, in his Memoirs: - -"This moonshine about the Opera ghost in which, since we first -took over the duties of MM. Poligny and Debienne, we had been -so nicely steeped"--Moncharmin's style is not always irreproachable-- -"had no doubt ended by blinding my imaginative and also my -visual faculties. It may be that the exceptional surroundings -in which we found ourselves, in the midst of an incredible silence, -impressed us to an unusual extent. It may be that we were the sport -of a kind of hallucination brought about by the semi-darkness of -the theater and the partial gloom that filled Box Five. At any rate, -I saw and Richard also saw a shape in the box. Richard said nothing, -nor I either. But we spontaneously seized each other's hand. -We stood like that for some minutes, without moving, with our -eyes fixed on the same point; but the figure had disappeared. -Then we went out and, in the lobby, communicated our impressions -to each other and talked about `the shape.' The misfortune was that -my shape was not in the least like Richard's. I had seen a thing -like a death's head resting on the ledge of the box, whereas Richard -saw the shape of an old woman who looked like Mme. Giry. We soon -discovered that we had really been the victims of an illusion, -whereupon, without further delay and laughing like madmen, we ran -to Box Five on the grand tier, went inside and found no shape of any kind." - -Box Five is just like all the other grand tier boxes. There is -nothing to distinguish it from any of the others. M. Moncharmin -and M. Richard, ostensibly highly amused and laughing at each other, -moved the furniture of the box, lifted the cloths and the chairs -and particularly examined the arm-chair in which "the man's voice" -used to sit. But they saw that it was a respectable arm-chair, -with no magic about it. Altogether, the box was the most ordinary box -in the world, with its red hangings, its chairs, its carpet and its ledge -covered in red velvet. After, feeling the carpet in the most serious -manner possible, and discovering nothing more here or anywhere else, -they went down to the corresponding box on the pit tier below. -In Box Five on the pit tier, which is just inside the first exit -from the stalls on the left, they found nothing worth mentioning either. - -"Those people are all making fools of us!" Firmin Richard ended -by exclaiming. "It will be FAUST on Saturday: let us both see -the performance from Box Five on the grand tier!" - - - -Chapter VII Faust and What Followed - - -On the Saturday morning, on reaching their office, the joint -managers found a letter from O. G. worded in these terms: - -MY DEAR MANAGERS: - -So it is to be war between us? - -If you still care for peace, here is my ultimatum. It consists -of the four following conditions: - -1. You must give me back my private box; and I wish it to be at -my free disposal from henceforward. - -2. The part of Margarita shall be sung this evening by Christine Daae. -Never mind about Carlotta; she will be ill. - -3. I absolutely insist upon the good and loyal services of Mme. Giry, -my box-keeper, whom you will reinstate in her functions forthwith. - -4. Let me know by a letter handed to Mme. Giry, who will see -that it reaches me, that you accept, as your predecessors did, -the conditions in my memorandum-book relating to my monthly allowance. -I will inform you later how you are to pay it to me. - -If you refuse, you will give FAUST to-night in a house with a curse -upon it. - -Take my advice and be warned in time. O. G. - -"Look here, I'm getting sick of him, sick of him!" shouted Richard, -bringing his fists down on his officetable. - -Just then, Mercier, the acting-manager, entered. - -"Lachcnel would like to see one of you gentlemen," he said. -"He says that his business is urgent and he seems quite upset." - -"Who's Lachcnel?" asked Richard. - -"He's your stud-groom." - -"What do you mean? My stud-groom?" - -"Yes, sir," explained Mercier, "there are several grooms at the Opera -and M. Lachcnel is at the head of them." - -"And what does this groom do?" - -"He has the chief management of the stable." - -"What stable?" - -"Why, yours, sir, the stable of the Opera." - -"Is there a stable at the Opera? Upon my word, I didn't know. -Where is it?" - -"In the cellars, on the Rotunda side. It's a very important department; -we have twelve horses." - -"Twelve horses! And what for, in Heaven's name?" - -"Why, we want trained horses for the processions in the Juive, -The Profeta and so on; horses `used to the boards.' It is the grooms' -business to teach them. M. Lachcnel is very clever at it. He used -to manage Franconi's stables." - -"Very well...but what does he want. - -"I don't know; I never saw him in such a state." - -"He can come in." - -M. Lachenel came in, carrying a riding-whip, with which he struck -his right boot in an irritable manner. - -"Good morning, M. Lachenel," said Richard, somewhat impressed. -"To what do we owe the honor of your visit?" - -"Mr. Manager, I have come to ask you to get rid of the whole stable." - -"What, you want to get rid of our horses?" - -"I'm not talking of the horses, but of the stablemen." - -"How many stablemen have you, M. Lachenel?" - -"Six stablemen! That's at least two too many." - -"These are `places,'" Mercier interposed, "created and forced -upon us by the under-secretary for fine arts. They are filled -by protegees of the government and, if I may venture to..." - -"I don't care a hang for the government!" roared Richard. -"We don't need more than four stablemen for twelve horses." - -"Eleven," said the head riding-master, correcting him. - -"Twelve," repeated Richard. - -"Eleven," repeated Lachenel. - -"Oh, the acting-manager told me that you had twelve horses!" - -"I did have twelve, but I have only eleven since Cesar was stolen." - -And M. Lachenel gave himself a great smack on the boot with his whip. - -"Has Cesar been stolen?" cried the acting-manager. "Cesar, the white -horse in the Profeta?" - -"There are not two Cesars," said the stud-groom dryly. "I was ten -years at Franconi's and I have seen plenty of horses in my time. -Well, there are not two Cesars. And he's been stolen." - -"How?" - -"I don't know. Nobody knows. That's why I have come to ask you -to sack the whole stable." - -"What do your stablemen say?" - -"All sorts of nonsense. Some of them accuse the supers. -Others pretend that it's the acting-manager's doorkeeper..." - -"My doorkeeper? I'll answer for him as I would for myself!" -protested Mercier. - -"But, after all, M. Lachenel," cried Richard, "you must have some idea." - -"Yes, I have," M. Lachenel declared. "I have an idea and I'll -tell you what it is. There's no doubt about it in my mind." -He walked up to the two managers and whispered. "It's the ghost -who did the trick!" - -Richard gave a jump. - -"What, you too! You too!" - -"How do you mean, I too? Isn't it natural, after what I saw?" - -"What did you see?" - -"I saw, as clearly as I now see you, a black shadow riding a white -horse that was as like Cesar as two peas!" - -"And did you run after them?" - -"I did and I shouted, but they were too fast for me and disappeared -in the darkness of the underground gallery." - -M. Richard rose. "That will do, M. Lachenel. You can go.... -We will lodge a complaint against THE GHOST." - -"And sack my stable?" - -"Oh, of course! Good morning." - -M. Lachenel bowed and withdrew. Richard foamed at the mouth. - -"Settle that idiot's account at once, please." - -"He is a friend of the government representative's!" Mercier ventured -to say. - -"And he takes his vermouth at Tortoni's with Lagrene, Scholl and Pertuiset, -the lion-hunter," added Moncharmin. "We shall have the whole press -against us! He'll tell the story of the ghost; and everybody -will be laughing at our expense! We may as well be dead as ridiculous!" - -"All right, say no more about it." - -At that moment the door opened. It must have been deserted -by its usual Cerberus, for Mme. Giry entered without ceremony, -holding a letter in her hand, and said hurriedly: - -"I beg your pardon, excuse me, gentlemen, but I had a letter this -morning from the Opera ghost. He told me to come to you, that you -had something to..." - -She did not complete the sentence. She saw Firmin Richard's face; -and it was a terrible sight. He seemed ready to burst. He said nothing, -he could not speak. But suddenly he acted. First, his left arm -seized upon the quaint person of Mme. Giry and made her describe -so unexpected a semicircle that she uttered a despairing cry. -Next, his right foot imprinted its sole on the black taffeta of a -skirt which certainly had never before undergone a similar outrage -in a similar place. The thing happened so quickly that Mme. Giry, -when in the passage, was still quite bewildered and seemed not -to understand. But, suddenly, she understood; and the Opera -rang with her indignant yells, her violent protests and threats. - -About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own -in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, rang for her maid, who brought -her letters to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, -written in red ink, in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran: - -If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune -at the moment when you open your mouth to sing...a misfortune -worse than death. - -The letter took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. -She pushed back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. -It was not the first letter of the kind which she had received, -but she never had one couched in such threatening terms. - -She thought herself, at that time, the victim of a thousand jealous -attempts and went about saying that she had a secret enemy who had -sworn to ruin her. She pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched -against her, a cabal which would come to a head one of those days; -but she added that she was not the woman to be intimidated. - -The truth is that, if there was a cabal, it was led by Carlotta -herself against poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. -Carlotta had never forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had -achieved when taking her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta -heard of the astounding reception bestowed upon her understudy, -she was at once cured of an incipient attack of bronchitis and a -bad fit of sulking against the management and lost the slightest -inclination to shirk her duties. From that time, she worked with all -her might to "smother" her rival, enlisting the services of influential -friends to persuade the managers not to give Christine an opportunity -for a fresh triumph. Certain newspapers which had begun to extol -the talent of Christine now interested themselves only in the fame -of Carlotta. Lastly, in the theater itself, the celebrated, -but heartless and soulless diva made the most scandalous remarks -about Christine and tried to cause her endless minor unpleasantnesses. - -When Carlotta had finished thinking over the threat contained -in the strange letter, she got up. - -"We shall see," she said, adding a few oaths in her native Spanish -with a very determined air. - -The first thing she saw, when looking out of her window, was a hearse. -She was very superstitious; and the hearse and the letter convinced -her that she was running the most serious dangers that evening. -She collected all her supporters, told them that she was threatened -at that evening's performance with a plot organized by Christine Daae -and declared that they must play a trick upon that chit by filling -the house with her, Carlotta's, admirers. She had no lack of them, -had she? She relied upon them to hold themselves prepared for any -eventuality and to silence the adversaries, if, as she feared, -they created a disturbance. - -M. Richard's private secretary called to ask after the diva's health -and returned with the assurance that she was perfectly well and that, -"were she dying," she would sing the part of Margarita that evening. -The secretary urged her, in his chief's name, to commit no imprudence, -to stay at home all day and to be careful of drafts; and Carlotta could -not help, after he had gone, comparing this unusual and unexpected -advice with the threats contained in the letter. - -It was five o'clock when the post brought a second anonymous letter -in the same hand as the first. It was short and said simply: - -You have a bad cold. If you are wise, you will see that it -is madness to try to sing to-night. - -Carlotta sneered, shrugged her handsome shoulders and sang two -or three notes to reassure herself. - -Her friends were faithful to their promise. They were all at the Opera -that night, but looked round in vain for the fierce conspirators -whom they were instructed to suppress. The only unusual thing -was the presence of M. Richard and M. Moncharmin in Box Five. -Carlotta's friends thought that, perhaps, the managers had wind, -on their side, of the proposed disturbance and that they had -determined to be in the house, so as to stop it then and there; -but this was unjustifiable supposition, as the reader knows. -M. Richard and M. Moncharmin were thinking of nothing but their ghost. - -"Vain! In vain do I call, through my vigil weary, On creation -and its Lord! Never reply will break the silence dreary! No sign! -No single word!" - -The famous baritone, Carolus Fonta, had hardly finished Doctor Faust's -first appeal to the powers of darkness, when M. Firmin Richard, -who was sitting in the ghost's own chair, the front chair on the right, -leaned over to his partner and asked him chaffingly: - -"Well, has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet?" - -"Wait, don't be in such a hurry," replied M. Armand Moncharmin, -in the same gay tone. "The performance has only begun and you know -that the ghost does not usually come until the middle of the first act." - -The first act passed without incident, which did not surprise -Carlotta's friends, because Margarita does not sing in this act. -As for the managers, they looked at each other, when the curtain fell. - -"That's one!" said Moncharmin. - -"Yes, the ghost is late," said Firmin Richard. - -"It's not a bad house," said Moncharmin, "for `a house with a curse -on it.'" - -M. Richard smiled and pointed to a fat, rather vulgar woman, -dressed in black, sitting in a stall in the middle of the auditorium -with a man in a broadcloth frock-coat on either side of her. - -"Who on earth are `those?'" asked Moncharmin. - -"`Those,' my dear fellow, are my concierge, her husband and her brother." - -"Did you give them their tickets?' - -"I did. .. My concierge had never been to the Opera--this is, -the first time--and, as she is now going to come every night, -I wanted her to have a good seat, before spending her time showing -other people to theirs." - -Moncharmin asked what he meant and Richard answered that he had -persuaded his concierge, in whom he had the greatest confidence, -to come and take Mme. Giry's place. Yes, he would like to see if, -with that woman instead of the old lunatic, Box Five would continue -to astonish the natives? - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "you know that Mother Giry is going -to lodge a complaint against you." - -"With whom? The ghost?" - -The ghost! Moncharmin had almost forgotten him. However, that mysterious -person did nothing to bring himself to the memory of the managers; -and they were just saying so to each other for the second time, -when the door of the box suddenly opened to admit the startled -stage-manager. - -"What's the matter?" they both asked, amazed at seeing him there -at such a time. - -"It seems there's a plot got up by Christine Daae's friends -against Carlotta. Carlotta's furious." - -"What on earth...?" said Richard, knitting his brows. - -But the curtain rose on the kermess scene and Richard made a sign -to the stage-manager to go away. When the two were alone again, -Moncharmin leaned over to Richard: - -"Then Daae has friends?" he asked. - -"Yes, she has." - -"Whom?" - -Richard glanced across at a box on the grand tier containing -no one but two men. - -"The Comte de Chagny?" - -"Yes, he spoke to me in her favor with such warmth that, if I -had not known him to be Sorelli's friend..." - -"Really? Really?" said Moncharmin. "And who is that pale young -man beside him?" - -"That's his brother, the viscount." - -"He ought to be in his bed. He looks ill." - -The stage rang with gay song: - - "Red or white liquor, - Coarse or fine! - What can it matter, - So we have wine?" - -Students, citizens, soldiers, girls and matrons whirled light-heartedly -before the inn with the figure of Bacchus for a sign. Siebel made -her entrance. Christine Daae looked charming in her boy's clothes; -and Carlotta's partisans expected to hear her greeted with an ovation -which would have enlightened them as to the intentions of her friends. -But nothing happened. - -On the other hand, when Margarita crossed the stage and sang -the only two lines allotted her in this second act: - - "No, my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty, - And do not need an arm to help me on my way," - -Carlotta was received with enthusiastic applause. It was so -unexpected and so uncalled for that those who knew nothing about -the rumors looked at one another and asked what was happening. -And this act also was finished without incident. - -Then everybody said: "Of course, it will be during the next act." - -Some, who seemed to be better informed than the rest, declared that -the "row" would begin with the ballad of the KING OF THULE and rushed -to the subscribers' entrance to warn Carlotta. The managers left -the box during the entr'acte to find out more about the cabal of which -the stage-manager had spoken; but they soon returned to their seats, -shrugging their shoulders and treating the whole affair as silly. - -The first thing they saw, on entering the box, was a box of English -sweets on the little shelf of the ledge. Who had put it there? -They asked the box-keepers, but none of them knew. Then they went back -to the shelf and, next to the box of sweets, found an opera glass. -They looked at each other. They had no inclination to laugh. -All that Mme. Giry had told them returned to their memory...and -then...and then...they seemed to feel a curious sort of draft -around them....They sat down in silence. - -The scene represented Margarita's garden: - - "Gentle flow'rs in the dew, - Be message from me..." - -As she sang these first two lines, with her bunch of roses and lilacs -in her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de Chagny -in his box; and, from that moment, her voice seemed less sure, -less crystal-clear than usual. Something seemed to deaden and dull -her singing. ... - -"What a queer girl she is!" said one of Carlotta's friends -in the stalls, almost aloud. "The other day she was divine; -and to-night she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training." - - "Gentle flow'rs, lie ye there - And tell her from me..." - -The viscount put his head under his hands and wept. The count, behind him, -viciously gnawed his mustache, shrugged his shoulders and frowned. -For him, usually so cold and correct, to betray his inner feelings -like that, by outward signs, the count must be very angry. He was. -He had seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey -in an alarming state of health. The explanation that followed was -unsatisfactory and the count asked Christine Daae for an appointment. -She had the audacity to reply that she could not see either him -or his brother. ... - - "Would she but deign to hear me - And with one smile to cheer me..." - -"The little baggage!" growled the count. - -And he wondered what she wanted. What she was hoping for. -...She was a virtuous girl, she was said to have no friend, -no protector of any sort....That angel from the North must be -very artful! - -Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, -thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris, -where Christine, fleeing from Perros like a thief in the night, -had arrived before him: - -MY DEAR LITTLE PLAYFELLOW: - -You must have the courage not to see me again, not to speak of -me again. If you love me just a little, do this for me, for me -who will never forget you, my dear Raoul. My life depends upon it. -Your life depends upon it. YOUR LITTLE CHRISTINE. - -Thunders of applause. Carlotta made her entrance. - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is..." - -When Margarita had finished singing the ballad of the KING OF THULE, -she was loudly cheered and again when she came to the end -of the jewel song: - - "Ah, the joy of past compare - These jewels bright to wear!..." - -Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, -certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung -herself into her part without restraint of modesty....She was no -longer Margarita, she was Carmen. She was applauded all the more; -and her debut with Faust seemed about to bring her a new success, -when suddenly...a terrible thing happened. - -Faust had knelt on one knee: - - "Let me gaze on the form below me, - While from yonder ether blue - Look how the star of eve, bright and tender, - lingers o'er me, - To love thy beauty too!" - -And Margarita replied: - - "Oh, how strange! - Like a spell does the evening bind me! - And a deep languid charm - I feel without alarm - With its melody enwind me - And all my heart subdue." - -At that moment, at that identical moment, the terrible thing happened. -...Carlotta croaked like a toad: - -"Co-ack!" - -There was consternation on Carlotta's face and consternation on -the faces of all the audience. The two managers in their box could -not suppress an exclamation of horror. Every one felt that the thing -was not natural, that there was witchcraft behind it. That toad -smelt of brimstone. Poor, wretched, despairing, crushed Carlotta! - -The uproar in the house was indescribable. If the thing had -happened to any one but Carlotta, she would have been hooted. -But everybody knew how perfect an instrument her voice was; -and there was no display of anger, but only of horror and dismay, -the sort of dismay which men would have felt if they had witnessed -the catastrophe that broke the arms of the Venus de Milo. -... And even then they would have seen...and understood... - -But here that toad was incomprehensible! So much so that, -after some seconds spent in asking herself if she had really -heard that note, that sound, that infernal noise issue from -her throat, she tried to persuade herself that it was not so, -that she was the victim of an illusion, an illusion of the ear, -and not of an act of treachery on the part of her voice. ... - -Meanwhile, in Box Five, Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. -This extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread -which was the more mysterious inasmuch as for some little while, -they had, fallen within the direct influence of the ghost. They had -felt his breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end. Richard wiped the -perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost was there, around them, -behind them, beside them; they felt his presence without seeing him, -they heard his breath, close, close, close to them!...They were -sure that there were three people in the box....They trembled -....They thought of running away....They dared not.... -They dared not make a movement or exchange a word that would -have told the ghost that they knew that he was there!...What -was going to happen? - -This happened. - -"Co-ack!" Their joint exclamation of horror was heard all over the house. -THEY FELT THAT THEY WERE SMARTING UNDER THE GHOST'S ATTACKS. -Leaning over the ledge of their box, they stared at Carlotta -as though they did not recognize her. That infernal girl must -have given the signal for some catastrophe. Ah, they were waiting -for the catastrophe! The ghost had told them it would come! -The house had a curse upon it! The two managers gasped and panted -under the weight of the catastrophe. Richard's stifled voice was -heard calling to Carlotta: - -"Well, go on!" - -No, Carlotta did not go on....Bravely, heroically, she started -afresh on the fatal line at the end of which the toad had appeared. - -An awful silence succeeded the uproar. Carlotta's voice alone once -more filled the resounding house: - -"I feel without alarm..." - -The audience also felt, but not without alarm. .. - - "I feel without alarm... - I feel without alarm--co-ack! - With its melody enwind me--co-ack! - And all my heart sub--co-ack!" - -The toad also had started afresh! - -The house broke into a wild tumult. The two managers collapsed -in their chairs and dared not even turn round; they had not -the strength; the ghost was chuckling behind their backs! -And, at last, they distinctly heard his voice in their right ears, -the impossible voice, the mouthless voice, saying: - -"SHE IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!" - -With one accord, they raised their eyes to the ceiling and uttered -a terrible cry. The chandelier, the immense mass of the chandelier was -slipping down, coming toward them, at the call of that fiendish voice. -Released from its hook, it plunged from the ceiling and came smashing -into the middle of the stalls, amid a thousand shouts of terror. -A wild rush for the doors followed. - -The papers of the day state that there were numbers wounded -and one killed. The chandelier had crashed down upon the head -of the wretched woman who had come to the Opera for the first time -in her life, the one whom M. Richard had appointed to succeed -Mme. Giry, the ghost's box-keeper, in her - -I functions! She died on the spot and, the next morning, a newspaper -appeared with this heading: - -TWO HUNDRED KILOS ON THE HEAD OF A CONCIERGE - -That was her sole epitaph! - - - -Chapter VIII The Mysterious Brougham - - -That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill. -As for Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. -A fortnight elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera -nor outside. - -Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima -donna's absence. He wrote to her at Mme. Valerius' flat and received -no reply. His grief increased and he ended by being seriously alarmed -at never seeing her name on the program. FAUST was played without her. - -One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason -of Christine's disappearance. He found them both looking -extremely worried. Their own friends did not recognize them: -they had lost all their gaiety and spirits. They were seen crossing -the stage with hanging heads, care-worn brows, pale cheeks, as though -pursued by some abominable thought or a prey to some persistent sport of fate. - -The fall of the chandelier had involved them in no little responsibility; -but it was difficult to make them speak about it. The inquest had -ended in a verdict of accidental death, caused by the wear and tear -of the chains by which the chandelier was hung from the ceiling; -but it was the duty of both the old and the new managers to have -discovered this wear and tear and to have remedied it in time. -And I feel bound to say that MM. Richard and Moncharmin at this -time appeared so changed, so absent-minded, so mysterious, -so incomprehensible that many of the subscribers thought that some -event even more horrible than the fall of the chandelier must -have affected their state of mind. - -In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, -except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions. -And their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask -about Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him -that she was taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, -and they replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, -as Mlle. Daae had requested leave of absence for reasons of health. - -"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?" - -"We don't know." - -"Didn't you send the doctor of the Opera to see her?" - -"No, she did not ask for him; and, as we trust her, we took her word." - -Raoul left the building a prey to the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved, -come what might, to go and inquire of Mamma Valerius. He remembered -the strong phrases in Christine's letter, forbidding him to make -any attempt to see her. But what he had seen at Perros, what he had -heard behind the dressing-room door, his conversation with Christine -at the edge of the moor made him suspect some machination which, -devilish though it might be, was none the less human. The girl's -highly strung imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, -the primitive education which had surrounded her childhood with a -circle of legends, the constant brooding over her dead father and, -above all, the state of sublime ecstasy into which music threw her -from the moment that this art was made manifest to her in certain -exceptional conditions, as in the churchyard at Perros; all this -seemed to him to constitute a moral ground only too favorable for -the malevolent designs of some mysterious and unscrupulous person. -Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? This was the very reasonable -question which Raoul put to himself as he hurried off to Mamma Valerius. - -He trembled as he rang at a little flat in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. -The door was opened by the maid whom he had seen coming out of Christine's -dressing-room one evening. He asked if he could speak to Mme. Valerius. -He was told that she was ill in bed and was not receiving visitors. - -"Take in my card, please," he said. - -The maid soon returned and showed him into a small and scantily -furnished drawing-room, in which portraits of Professor Valerius -and old Daae hung on opposite walls. - -"Madame begs Monsieur le Vicomte to excuse her," said the servant. -"She can only see him in her bedroom, because she can no longer stand -on her poor legs." - -Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he -at once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress -in the semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now -quite white, but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, -had their expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like. - -"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her visitor. -"Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here!...We can talk of HER." - -This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears. -He at once asked: - -"Madame...where is Christine?" - -And the old lady replied calmly: - -"She is with her good genius!" - -"What good genius?" exclaimed poor Raoul. - -"Why, the Angel of Music!" - -The viscount dropped into a chair. Really? Christine was with -the Angel of Music? And there lay Mamma Valerius in bed, smiling to -him and putting her finger to her lips, to warn him to be silent! -And she added: - -"You must not tell anybody!" - -"You can rely on me," said Raoul. - -He hardly knew what he was saying, for his ideas about Christine, -already greatly confused, were becoming more and more entangled; -and it seemed as if everything was beginning to turn around him, -around the room, around that extraordinary good lady with the white hair -and forget-me-not eyes. - -"I know! I know I can!" she said, with a happy laugh. "But why don't -you come near me, as you used to do when you were a little boy? -Give me your hands, as when you brought me the story of little Lotte, -which Daddy Daae had told you. I am very fond of you, M. Raoul, -you know. And so is Christine too!" - -"She is fond of me!" sighed the young man. He found a difficulty -in collecting his thoughts and bringing them to bear on Mamma Valerius' -"good genius," on the Angel of Music of whom Christine had spoken -to him so strangely, on the death's head which he had seen in a sort -of nightmare on the high altar at Perros and also on the Opera ghost, -whose fame had come to his ears one evening when he was standing -behind the scenes, within hearing of a group of scene-shifters -who were repeating the ghastly description which the hanged man, -Joseph Buquet, had given of the ghost before his mysterious death. - -He asked in a low voice: "What makes you think that Christine -is fond of me, madame?" - -"She used to speak of you every day." - -"Really?...And what did she tell you?" - -"She told me that you had made her a proposal!" - -And the good old lady began laughing wholeheartedly. Raoul sprang -from his chair, flushing to the temples, suffering agonies. - -"What's this? Where are you going? Sit down again at once, -will you?...Do you think I will let you go like that?...If -you're angry with me for laughing, I beg your pardon. .. After all, -what has happened isn't your fault. .. Didn't you know?...Did -you think that Christine was free?..." - -"Is Christine engaged to be married?" the wretched Raoul asked, -in a choking voice. - -"Why no! Why no!...You know as well as I do that Christine -couldn't marry, even if she wanted to! - -"But I don't know anything about it!...And why can't Christine marry?" - -"Because of the Angel of Music, of course!..." - -"I don't follow..." - -"Yes, he forbids her to!..." - -"He forbids her!...The Angel of Music forbids her to marry!" - -"Oh, he forbids her...without forbidding her. It's like this: -he tells her that, if she got married, she would never hear -him again. That's all!...And that he would go away for ever! -.. So, you understand, she can't let the Angel of Music go. -It's quite natural." - -"Yes, yes," echoed Raoul submissively, "it's quite natural." - -"Besides, I thought Christine had told you all that, when she met -you at Perros, where she went with her good genius." - -"Oh, she went to Perros with her good genius, did she?" - -"That is to say, he arranged to meet her down there, -in Perros churchyard, at Daae's grave. He promised -to play her The Resurrection of Lazarus on her father's violin!" - -Raoul de Chagny rose and, with a very authoritative air, -pronounced these peremptory words: - -"Madame, you will have the goodness to tell me where that genius lives." - -The old lady did not seem surprised at this indiscreet command. -She raised her eyes and said: - -"In Heaven!" - -Such simplicity baffled him. He did not know what to say in -the presence of this candid and perfect faith in a genius who came -down nightly from Heaven to haunt the dressing-rooms at the Opera. - -He now realized the possible state of mind of a girl brought up -between a superstitious fiddler and a visionary old lady and he -shuddered when he thought of the consequences of it all. - -"Is Christine still a good girl?" he asked suddenly, in spite -of himself. - -"I swear it, as I hope to be saved!" exclaimed the -old woman, who, this time, seemed to be incensed. -"And, if you doubt it, sir, I don't know what you are here for!" - -Raoul tore at his gloves. - -"How long has she known this `genius?'" - -"About three months....Yes, it's quite three months since he -began to give her lessons." - -The viscount threw up his arms with a gesture of despair. - -"The genius gives her lessons!...And where, pray?" - -"Now that she has gone away with him, I can't say; but, up to a fortnight ago, -it was in Christine's dressing-room. It would be impossible in this -little flat. The whole house would hear them. Whereas, at the Opera, -at eight o'clock in the morning, there is no one about, do you see!" - -"Yes, I see! I see!" cried the viscount. - -And he hurriedly took leave of Mme. Valerius, who asked herself -if the young nobleman was not a little off his head. - -He walked home to his brother's house in a pitiful state. -He could have struck himself, banged his head against the walls! -To think that he had believed in her innocence, in her purity! -The Angel of Music! He knew him now! He saw him! It was beyond -a doubt some unspeakable tenor, a good-looking jackanapes, who mouthed -and simpered as he sang! He thought himself as absurd and as wretched -as could be. Oh, what a miserable, little, insignificant, silly young -man was M. le Vicomte de Chagny! thought Raoul, furiously. And she, -what a bold and damnable sly creature! - -His brother was waiting for him and Raoul fell into his arms, -like a child. The count consoled him, without asking for explanations; -and Raoul would certainly have long hesitated before telling him -the story of the Angel of Music. His brother suggested taking him -out to dinner. Overcome as he was with despair, Raoul would probably -have refused any invitation that evening, if the count had not, -as an inducement, told him that the lady of his thoughts had been seen, -the night before, in company of the other sex in the Bois. -At first, the viscount refused to believe; but he received such exact -details that he ceased protesting. She had been seen, it appeared, -driving in a brougham, with the window down. She seemed to be slowly -taking in the icy night air. There was a glorious moon shining. -She was recognized beyond a doubt. As for her companion, only his -shadowy outline was distinguished leaning back in the dark. -The carriage was going at a walking pace in a lonely drive behind -the grand stand at Longchamp. - -Raoul dressed in frantic haste, prepared to forget his distress -by flinging himself, as people say, into "the vortex of pleasure." -Alas, he was a very sorry guest and, leaving his brother early, -found himself, by ten o'clock in the evening, in a cab, -behind the Longchamp race-course. - -It was bitterly cold. The road seemed deserted and very bright -under the moonlight. He told the driver to wait for him patiently at -the corner of a near turning and, hiding himself as well as he could, -stood stamping his feet to keep warm. He had been indulging -in this healthy exercise for half an hour or so, when a carriage -turned the corner of the road and came quietly in his direction, -at a walking pace. - -As it approached, he saw that a woman was leaning her head from -the window. And, suddenly, the moon shed a pale gleam over her features. - -"Christine!" - -The sacred name of his love had sprung from his heart and his lips. -He could not keep it back. .. He would have given anything -to withdraw it, for that name, proclaimed in the stillness of -the night, had acted as though it were the preconcerted signal -for a furious rush on the part of the whole turn-out, which dashed -past him before he could put into execution his plan of leaping -at the horses' heads. The carriage window had been closed and -the girl's face had disappeared. And the brougham, behind which -he was now running, was no more than a black spot on the white road. - -He called out again: "Christine!" - -No reply. And he stopped in the midst of the silence. - -With a lack-luster eye, he stared down that cold, desolate road -and into the pale, dead night. Nothing was colder than his heart, -nothing half so dead: he had loved an angel and now he despised -a woman! - -Raoul, how that little fairy of the North has trifled with you! -Was it really, was it really necessary to have so fresh and young -a face, a forehead so shy and always ready to cover itself with -the pink blush of modesty in order to pass in the lonely night, -in a carriage and pair, accompanied by a mysterious lover? -Surely there should be some limit to hypocrisy and lying!... - -She had passed without answering his cry....And he was thinking -of dying; and he was twenty years old!... - -His valet found him in the morning sitting on his bed. He had not -undressed and the servant feared, at the sight of his face, that some -disaster had occurred. Raoul snatched his letters from the man's hands. -He had recognized Christine's paper and hand-writing. She said: - -DEAR: - -Go to the masked ball at the Opera on the night after to-morrow. -At twelve o'clock, be in the little room behind the chimney-place -of the big crush-room. Stand near the door that leads to the Rotunda. -Don't mention this appointment to any one on earth. Wear a white -domino and be carefully masked. As you love me, do not let yourself -be recognized. CHRISTINE. - - - -Chapter IX At the Masked Ball - - -The envelope was covered with mud and unstamped. It bore the words -"To be handed to M. le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny," with the address -in pencil. It must have been flung out in the hope that a passer-by -would pick up the note and deliver it, which was what happened. -The note had been picked up on the pavement of the Place de l'Opera. - -Raoul read it over again with fevered eyes. No more was needed -to revive his hope. The somber picture which he had for a moment -imagined of a Christine forgetting her duty to herself made way -for his original conception of an unfortunate, innocent child, -the victim of imprudence and exaggerated sensibility. To what extent, -at this time, was she really a victim? Whose prisoner was she? -Into what whirlpool had she been dragged? He asked himself these -questions with a cruel anguish; but even this pain seemed endurable -beside the frenzy into which he was thrown at the thought of a lying -and deceitful Christine. What had happened? What influence had -she undergone? What monster had carried her off and by what means? -... - -By what means indeed but that of music? He knew Christine's story. -After her father's death, she acquired a distaste of everything in life, -including her art. She went through the CONSERVATOIRE like a poor -soulless singing-machine. And, suddenly, she awoke as though through the -intervention of a god. The Angel of Music appeared upon the scene! -She sang Margarita in FAUST and triumphed!... - -The Angel of Music!...For three months the Angel of Music had been -giving Christine lessons....Ah, he was a punctual singing-master!... -And now he was taking her for drives in the Bois!... - -Raoul's fingers clutched at his flesh, above his jealous heart. -In his inexperience, he now asked himself with terror what game -the girl was playing? Up to what point could an opera-singer make -a fool of a good-natured young man, quite new to love? O misery!... - -Thus did Raoul's thoughts fly from one extreme to the other. -He no longer knew whether to pity Christine or to curse her; -and he pitied and cursed her turn and turn about. At all events, -he bought a white domino. - -The hour of the appointment came at last. With his face in a mask -trimmed with long, thick lace, looking like a pierrot in his white wrap, -the viscount thought himself very ridiculous. Men of the world -do not go to the Opera ball in fancy-dress! It was absurd. -One thought, however, consoled the viscount: he would certainly -never be recognized! - -This ball was an exceptional affair, given some time before Shrovetide, -in honor of the anniversary of the birth of a famous draftsman; -and it was expected to be much gayer, noisier, more Bohemian than -the ordinary masked ball. Numbers of artists had arranged to go, -accompanied by a whole cohort of models and pupils, who, by midnight, -began to create a tremendous din. Raoul climbed the grand staircase -at five minutes to twelve, did not linger to look at the motley -dresses displayed all the way up the marble steps, one of the richest -settings in the world, allowed no facetious mask to draw him into -a war of wits, replied to no jests and shook off the bold familiarity -of a number of couples who had already become a trifle too gay. -Crossing the big crush-room and escaping from a mad whirl of dancers -in which he was caught for a moment, he at last entered the room -mentioned in Christine's letter. He found it crammed; for this -small space was the point where all those who were going to supper -in the Rotunda crossed those who were returning from taking a glass -of champagne. The fun, here, waxed fast and furious. - -Raoul leaned against a door-post and waited. He did not wait long. -A black domino passed and gave a quick squeeze to the tips of -his fingers. He understood that it was she and followed her: - -"Is that you, Christine?" he asked, between his teeth. - -The black domino turned round promptly and raised her finger -to her lips, no doubt to warn him not to mention her name again. -Raoul continued to follow her in silence. - -He was afraid of losing her, after meeting her again in such -strange circumstances. His grudge against her was gone. He no -longer doubted that she had "nothing to reproach herself with," -however peculiar and inexplicable her conduct might seem. He was -ready to make any display of clemency, forgiveness or cowardice. -He was in love. And, no doubt, he would soon receive a very natural -explanation of her curious absence. - -The black domino turned back from time to time to see if the white -domino was still following. - -As Raoul once more passed through the great crush-room, this time -in the wake of his guide, he could not help noticing a group crowding -round a person whose disguise, eccentric air and gruesome appearance -were causing a sensation. It was a man dressed all in scarlet, -with a huge hat and feathers on the top of a wonderful death's head. -From his shoulders hung an immense red-velvet cloak, which trailed -along the floor like a king's train; and on this cloak was embroidered, -in gold letters, which every one read and repeated aloud, -"Don't touch me! I am Red Death stalking abroad!" - -Then one, greatly daring, did try to touch him...but a skeleton -hand shot out of a crimson sleeve and violently seized the rash -one's wrist; and he, feeling the clutch of the knucklebones, -the furious grasp of Death, uttered a cry of pain and terror. -When Red Death released him at last, he ran away like a very madman, -pursued by the jeers of the bystanders. - -It was at this moment that Raoul passed in front of the funereal -masquerader, who had just happened to turn in his direction. -And he nearly exclaimed: - -"The death's head of Perros-Guirec!" - -He had recognized him!...He wanted to dart forward, forgetting Christine; -but the black domino, who also seemed a prey to some strange excitement, -caught him by the arm and dragged him from the crush-room, -far from the mad crowd through which Red Death was stalking. ... - -The black domino kept on turning back and, apparently, on two -occasions saw something that startled her, for she hurried -her pace and Raoul's as though they were being pursued. - -They went up two floors. Here, the stairs and corridors -were almost deserted. The black domino opened the door of a -private box and beckoned to the white domino to follow her. -Then Christine, whom he recognized by the sound of her voice, -closed the door behind them and warned him, in a whisper, -to remain at the back of the box and on no account to show himself. -Raoul took off his mask. Christine kept hers on. And, when Raoul -was about to ask her to remove it, he was surprised to see her put -her ear to the partition and listen eagerly for a sound outside. -Then she opened the door ajar, looked out into the corridor and, -in a low voice, said: - -"He must have gone up higher." Suddenly she exclaimed: "He is -coming down again!" - -She tried to close the door, but Raoul prevented her; for he had seen, -on the top step of the staircase that led to the floor above, -A RED FOOT, followed by another...and slowly, majestically, -the whole scarlet dress of Red Death met his eyes. And he once -more saw the death's head of Perros-Guirec. - -"It's he!" he exclaimed. "This time, he shall not escape me!..." - -But Christian{sic} had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul -was on the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside. - -"Whom do you mean by `he'?" she asked, in a changed voice. -"Who shall not escape you?" - -Raoul tried to overcome the girl's resistance by force, but she -repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her. -He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper. - -"Who?" he repeated angrily. "Why, he, the man who hides behind -that hideous mask of death!...The evil genius of the churchyard -at Perros!...Red Death!...In a word, madam, your friend... -your Angel of Music!...But I shall snatch off his mask, -as I shall snatch off my own; and, this time, we shall look each -other in the face, he and I, with no veil and no lies between us; -and I shall know whom you love and who loves you!" - -He burst into a mad laugh, while Christine gave a disconsolate moan -behind her velvet mask. With a tragic gesture, she flung out her -two arms, which fixed a barrier of white flesh against the door. - -"In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass!..." - -He stopped. What had she said?...In the name of their love?... -Never before had she confessed that she loved him. And yet she -had had opportunities enough....Pooh, her only object was to gain -a few seconds!...She wished to give the Red Death time to escape... -And, in accents of childish hatred, he said: - -"You lie, madam, for you do not love me and you have never loved me! -What a poor fellow I must be to let you mock and flout me as you -have done! Why did you give me every reason for hope, at Perros... -for honest hope, madam, for I am an honest man and I believed you -to be an honest woman, when your only intention was to deceive me! -Alas, you have deceived us all! You have taken a shameful advantage -of the candid affection of your benefactress herself, who continues -to believe in your sincerity while you go about the Opera ball -with Red Death!...I despise you!..." - -And he burst into tears. She allowed him to insult her. -She thought of but one thing, to keep him from leaving the box. - -"You will beg my pardon, one day, for all those ugly words, Raoul, -and when you do I shall forgive you!" - -He shook his head. "No, no, you have driven me mad! When I think -that I had only one object in life: to give my name to an opera wench!" - -"Raoul!...How can you?" - -"I shall die of shame!" - -"No, dear, live!" said Christine's grave and changed voice. -"And...good-by. Good-by, Raoul..." - -The boy stepped forward, staggering as he went. He risked one -more sarcasm: - -"Oh, you must let me come and applaud you from time to time!" - -"I shall never sing again, Raoul!... - -"Really?" he replied, still more satirically. "So he is taking -you off the stage: I congratulate you!...But we shall meet -in the Bois, one of these evenings!" - -"Not in the Bois nor anywhere, Raoul: you shall not see me again -..." - -"May one ask at least to what darkness you are returning?...For -what hell are you leaving, mysterious lady...or for what paradise?" - -"I came to tell you, dear, but I can't tell you now...you would -not believe me! You have lost faith in me, Raoul; it is finished!" - -She spoke in such a despairing voice that the lad began to feel -remorse for his cruelty. - -"But look here!" he cried. "Can't you tell me what all this means! -... You are free, there is no one to interfere with you. ... -You go about Paris....You put on a domino to come to the ball. -... Why do you not go home?...What have you been doing this -past fortnight?...What is this tale about the Angel of Music, -which you have been telling Mamma Valerius? Some one may have taken -you in, played upon your innocence. I was a witness of it myself, -at Perros...but you know what to believe now! You seem to me -quite sensible, Christine. You know what you are doing....And -meanwhile Mamma Valerius lies waiting for you at home and appealing -to your `good genius!'...Explain yourself, Christine, I beg of you! -Any one might have been deceived as I was. What is this farce?" - -Christine simply took off her mask and said: "Dear, it is a tragedy!" - -Raoul now saw her face and could not restrain an exclamation of -surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. -A mortal pallor covered those features, which he had known so -charming and so gentle, and sorrow had furrowed them with pitiless -lines and traced dark and unspeakably sad shadows under her eyes. - -"My dearest! My dearest!" he moaned, holding out his arms. -"You promised to forgive me..." - -"Perhaps!...Some day, perhaps!" she said, resuming her mask; -and she went away, forbidding him, with a gesture, to follow her. - -He tried to disobey her; but she turned round and repeated her gesture -of farewell with such authority that he dared not move a step. - -He watched her till she was out of sight. Then he also went down among -the crowd, hardly knowing what he was doing, with throbbing temples -and an aching heart; and, as he crossed the dancing-floor, he asked -if anybody had seen Red Death. Yes, every one had seen Red Death; -but Raoul could not find him; and, at two o'clock in the morning, -he turned down the passage, behind the scenes, that led to -Christine Daae's dressing-room. - -His footsteps took him to that room where he had first known suffering. -He tapped at the door. There was no answer. He entered, as he -had entered when he looked everywhere for "the man's voice." -The room was empty. A gas-jet was burning, turned down low. -He saw some writing-paper on a little desk. He thought of writing -to Christine, but he heard steps in the passage. He had only time -to hide in the inner room, which was separated from the dressing-room -by a curtain. - -Christine entered, took off her mask with a weary movement and flung -it on the table. She sighed and let her pretty head fall into her -two hands. What was she thinking of? Of Raoul? No, for Raoul -heard her murmur: "Poor Erik!" - -At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was -persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. -It would have been quite natural if she had said, "Poor Raoul," -after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, -she repeated: "Poor Erik!" - -What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she -pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy? - -Christine began to write, deliberately, calmly and so placidly -that Raoul, who was still trembling from the effects of the tragedy -that separated them, was painfully impressed. - -"What coolness!" he said to himself. - -She wrote on, filling two, three, four sheets. Suddenly, she raised -her head and hid the sheets in her bodice....She seemed -to be listening... Raoul also listened... Whence came -that strange sound, that distant rhythm?...A faint singing -seemed to issue from the walls...yes, it was as though -the walls themselves were singing!...The song became plainer -...the words were now distinguishable...he heard a voice, -a very beautiful, very soft, very captivating voice...but, -for all its softness, it remained a male voice...The voice came -nearer and nearer...it came through the wall...it approached -...and now the voice was IN THE ROOM, in front of Christine. -Christine rose and addressed the voice, as though speaking to some one: - -"Here I am, Erik," she said. "I am ready. But you are late." - -Raoul, peeping from behind the curtain, could not believe his eyes, -which showed him nothing. Christine's face lit up. A smile -of happiness appeared upon her bloodless lips, a smile like that -of sick people when they receive the first hope of recovery. - -The voice without a body went on singing; and certainly Raoul had -never in his life heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet, -more gloriously insidious, more delicate, more powerful, in short, -more irresistibly triumphant. He listened to it in a fever and he -now began to understand how Christine Daae was able to appear -one evening, before the stupefied audience, with accents of a beauty -hitherto unknown, of a superhuman exaltation, while doubtless still -under the influence of the mysterious and invisible master. - -The voice was singing the Wedding-night Song from Romeo and Juliet. -Raoul saw Christine stretch out her arms to the voice as she -had done, in Perros churchyard, to the invisible violin playing The -Resurrection of Lazarus. And nothing could describe the passion -with which the voice sang: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -The strains went through Raoul's heart. Struggling against the charm -that seemed to deprive him of all his will and all his energy and -of almost all his lucidity at the moment when he needed them most, -he succeeded in drawing back the curtain that hid him and he walked to -where Christine stood. She herself was moving to the back of the room, -the whole wall of which was occupied by a great mirror that reflected her -image, but not his, for he was just behind her and entirely covered by her. - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Christine walked toward her image in the glass and the image came -toward her. The two Christines--the real one and the reflection-- -ended by touching; and Raoul put out his arms to clasp the two -in one embrace. But, by a sort of dazzling miracle that sent -him staggering, Raoul was suddenly flung back, while an icy blast swept -over his face; he saw, not two, but four, eight, twenty Christines -spinning round him, laughing at him and fleeing so swiftly that he -could not touch one of them. At last, everything stood still again; -and he saw himself in the glass. But Christine had disappeared. - -He rushed up to the glass. He struck at the walls. Nobody! -And meanwhile the room still echoed with a distant passionate singing: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Which way, which way had Christine gone?...Which way would she -return?... - -Would she return? Alas, had she not declared to him that everything -was finished? And was the voice not repeating: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -To me? To whom? - -Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair -which Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into -his hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his -young cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, -tears that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which -is common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud: - -"Who is this Erik?" he said. - - - -Chapter X Forget the Name of the Man's Voice - - -The day after Christine had vanished before his eyes in a sort -of dazzlement that still made him doubt the evidence of his senses, -M. le Vicomte de Chagny called to inquire at Mamma Valerius'. -He came upon a charming picture. Christine herself was seated -by the bedside of the old lady, who was sitting up against -the pillows, knitting. The pink and white had returned to the young -girl's cheeks. The dark rings round her eyes had disappeared. -Raoul no longer recognized the tragic face of the day before. -If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not -still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird -drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, -he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all. - -She rose, without showing any emotion, and offered him her hand. -But Raoul's stupefaction was so great that he stood there dumfounded, -without a gesture, without a word. - -"Well, M. de Chagny," exclaimed Mamma Valerius, "don't you know -our Christine? Her good genius has sent her back to us!" - -"Mamma!" the girl broke in promptly, while a deep blush mantled to -her eyes. "I thought, mamma, that there was to be no more question -of that!...You know there is no such thing as the Angel of Music!" - -"But, child, he gave you lessons for three months!" - -"Mamma, I have promised to explain everything to you one of these days; -and I hope to do so but you have promised me, until that day, -to be silent and to ask me no more questions whatever!" - -"Provided that you promised never to leave me again! But have you -promised that, Christine?" - -"Mamma, all this can not interest M. de Chagny." - -"On the contrary, mademoiselle," said the young man, in a voice -which he tried to make firm and brave, but which still trembled, -"anything that concerns you interests me to an extent which perhaps -you will one day understand. I do not deny that my surprise equals -my pleasure at finding you with your adopted mother and that, -after what happened between us yesterday, after what you said and -what I was able to guess, I hardly expected to see you here so soon. -I should be the first to delight at your return, if you were not -so bent on preserving a secrecy that may be fatal to you...and I -have been your friend too long not to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, -at a disastrous adventure which will remain dangerous so long as we -have not unraveled its threads and of which you will certainly end -by being the victim, Christine." - -At these words, Mamma Valerius tossed about in her bed. - -"What does this mean?" she cried. "Is Christine in danger?" - -"Yes, madame," said Raoul courageously, notwithstanding the signs -which Christine made to him. - -"My God!" exclaimed the good, simple old woman, gasping for breath. -"You must tell me everything, Christine! Why did you try to reassure me? -And what danger is it, M. de Chagny?" - -"An impostor is abusing her good faith." - -"Is the Angel of Music an impostor?" - -"She told you herself that there is no Angel of Music." - -"But then what is it, in Heaven's name? You will be the death -of me!" - -"There is a terrible mystery around us, madame, around you, -around Christine, a mystery much more to be feared than any number -of ghosts or genii!" - -Mamma Valerius turned a terrified face to Christine, who had already -run to her adopted mother and was holding her in her arms. - -"Don't believe him, mummy, don't believe him," she repeated. - -"Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow. - -Christine was silent and Raoul resumed. - -"That is what you must promise, Christine. It is the only thing -that can reassure your mother and me. We will undertake not to ask -you a single question about the past, if you promise us to remain -under our protection in future." - -"That is an undertaking which I have not asked of you and a promise -which I refuse to make you!" said the young girl haughtily. -"I am mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right -to control them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. -As to what I have done during the last fortnight, there is only one man -in the world who has the right to demand an account of me: my husband! -Well, I have no husband and I never mean to marry!" - -She threw out her hands to emphasize her words and Raoul turned pale, -not only because of the words which he had heard, but because he -had caught sight of a plain gold ring on Christine's finger. - -"You have no husband and yet you wear a wedding-ring." - -He tried to seize her hand, but she swiftly drew it back. - -"That's a present!" she said, blushing once more and vainly striving -to hide her embarrassment. - -"Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been -given by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? -Why torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise -has been accepted!" - -"That's what I said!" exclaimed the old lady. - -"And what did she answer, madame?" - -"What I chose," said Christine, driven to exasperation. -"Don't you think, monsieur, that this cross-examination has lasted -long enough? As far as I am concerned..." - -Raoul was afraid to let her finish her speech. He interrupted her: - -"I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know -the good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, -you no doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to -tell you what I have seen--and I have seen more than you suspect, -Christine--or what I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, -I have sometimes been inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes." - -"Well, what did you see, sir, or think you saw?" - -"I saw your ecstasy AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE, Christine: the voice -that came from the wall or the next room to yours...yes, -YOUR ECSTASY! And that is what makes me alarmed on your behalf. -You are under a very dangerous spell. And yet it seems that you -are aware of the imposture, because you say to-day THAT THERE -IS NO ANGEL OF MUSIC! In that case, Christine, why did you follow -him that time? Why did you stand up, with radiant features, -as though you were really hearing angels?...Ah, it is a very -dangerous voice, Christine, for I myself, when I heard it, was so much -fascinated by it that you vanished before my eyes without my seeing -which way you passed! Christine, Christine, in the name of Heaven, -in the name of your father who is in Heaven now and who loved you -so dearly and who loved me too, Christine, tell us, tell your -benefactress and me, to whom does that voice belong? If you do, -we will save you in spite of yourself. Come, Christine, the name -of the man! The name of the man who had the audacity to put a ring -on your finger!" - -"M. de Chagny," the girl declared coldly, "you shall never know!" - -Thereupon, seeing the hostility with which her ward had addressed -the viscount, Mamma Valerius suddenly took Christine's part. - -"And, if she does love that man, Monsieur le Vicomte, even then it -is no business of yours!" - -"Alas, madame," Raoul humbly replied, unable to restrain his tears, -"alas, I believe that Christine really does love him!...But -it is not only that which drives me to despair; for what I am not -certain of, madame, is that the man whom Christine loves is worthy -of her love!" - -"It is for me to be the judge of that, monsieur!" said Christine, -looking Raoul angrily in the face. - -"When a man," continued Raoul, "adopts such romantic methods -to entice a young girl's affections. .." - -"The man must be either a villain, or the girl a fool: is that it?" - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul, why do you condemn a man whom you have never seen, -whom no one knows and about whom you yourself know nothing?" - -"Yes, Christine....Yes....I at least know the name -that you thought to keep from me for ever....The name -of your Angel of Music, mademoiselle, is Erik!" - -Christine at once betrayed herself. She turned as white as a sheet -and stammered: "Who told you?" - -"You yourself!" - -"How do you mean?" - -"By pitying him the other night, the night of the masked ball. -When you went to your dressing-room, did you not say, `Poor Erik?' -Well, Christine, there was a poor Raoul who overheard you." - -"This is the second time that you have listened behind the door, -M. de Chagny!" - -"I was not behind the door...I was in the dressing-room, -in the inner room, mademoiselle." - -"Oh, unhappy man!" moaned the girl, showing every sign -of unspeakable terror. "Unhappy man! Do you want to be killed?" - -"Perhaps." - -Raoul uttered this "perhaps" with so much love and despair in his -voice that Christine could not keep back a sob. She took his hands -and looked at him with all the pure affection of which she was capable: - -"Raoul," she said, "forget THE MAN'S VOICE and do not even remember -its name. .. You must never try to fathom the mystery of THE -MAN'S VOICE." - -"Is the mystery so very terrible?" - -"There is no more awful mystery on this earth. Swear to me that you -will make no attempt to find out," she insisted. "Swear to me -that you will never come to my dressing-room, unless I send for you." - -"Then you promise to send for me sometimes, Christine?" - -"I promise." - -"When?" - -"To-morrow." - -"Then I swear to do as you ask." - -He kissed her hands and went away, cursing Erik and resolving -to be patient. - - - -Chapter XI Above the Trap-Doors - - -The next day, he saw her at the Opera. She was still wearing -the plain gold ring. She was gentle and kind to him. She talked -to him of the plans which he was forming, of his future, of his career. - -He told her that the date of the Polar expedition had been put forward -and that he would leave France in three weeks, or a month at latest. -She suggested, almost gaily, that he must look upon the voyage -with delight, as a stage toward his coming fame. And when he -replied that fame without love was no attraction in his eyes, -she treated him as a child whose sorrows were only short-lived. - -"How can you speak so lightly of such serious things?" he asked. -"Perhaps we shall never see each other again! I may die during -that expedition." - -"Or I," she said simply. - -She no longer smiled or jested. She seemed to be thinking -of some new thing that had entered her mind for the first time. -Her eyes were all aglow with it. - -"What are you thinking of, Christine?" - -"I am thinking that we shall not see each other again..." - -"And does that make you so radiant?" - -"And that, in a month, we shall have to say good-by for ever!" - -"Unless, Christine, we pledge our faith and wait for each other -for ever." - -She put her hand on his mouth. - -"Hush, Raoul!...You know there is no question of that... -And we shall never be married: that is understood!" - -She seemed suddenly almost unable to contain an overpowering gaiety. -She clapped her hands with childish glee. Raoul stared at her -in amazement. - -"But...but," she continued, holding out her two hands to Raoul, -or rather giving them to him, as though she had suddenly resolved -to make him a present of them, "but if we can not be married, we can -... we can be engaged! Nobody will know but ourselves, Raoul. -There have been plenty of secret marriages: why not a secret -engagement?...We are engaged, dear, for a month! In a month, -you will go away, and I can be happy at the thought of that month -all my life long!" - -She was enchanted with her inspiration. Then she became serious again. - -"This," she said, "IS A HAPPINESS THAT WILL HARM NO ONE." - -Raoul jumped at the idea. He bowed to Christine and said: - -"Mademoiselle, I have the honor to ask for your hand." - -"Why, you have both of them already, my dear betrothed!... -Oh, Raoul, how happy we shall be!...We must play at being -engaged all day long." - -It was the prettiest game in the world and they enjoyed it like -the children that they were. Oh, the wonderful speeches they made -to each other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at -hearts as other children might play at ball; only, as it was really -their two hearts that they flung to and fro, they had to be very, -very handy to catch them, each time, without hurting them. - -One day, about a week after the game began, Raoul's heart was badly -hurt and he stopped playing and uttered these wild words: - -"I shan't go to the North Pole!" - -Christine, who, in her innocence, had not dreamed of such a possibility, -suddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached herself bitterly. -She did not say a word in reply to Raoul's remark and went straight home. - -This happened in the afternoon, in the singer's dressing-room, -where they met every day and where they amused themselves by dining -on three biscuits, two glasses of port and a bunch of violets. -In the evening, she did not sing; and he did not receive his -usual letter, though they had arranged to write to each other daily -during that month. The next morning, he ran off to Mamma Valerius, -who told him that Christine had gone away for two days. She had -left at five o'clock the day before. - -Raoul was distracted. He hated Mamma Valerius for giving him such -news as that with such stupefying calmness. He tried to sound her, -but the old lady obviously knew nothing. - -Christine returned on the following day. She returned in triumph. -She renewed her extraordinary success of the gala performance. -Since the adventure of the "toad," Carlotta had not been able -to appear on the stage. The terror of a fresh "co-ack" filled her -heart and deprived her of all her power of singing; and the theater -that had witnessed her incomprehensible disgrace had become odious -to her. She contrived to cancel her contract. Daae was offered -the vacant place for the time. She received thunders of applause in -the Juive. - -The viscount, who, of course, was present, was the only one -to suffer on hearing the thousand echoes of this fresh triumph; -for Christine still wore her plain gold ring. A distant voice -whispered in the young man's ear: - -"She is wearing the ring again to-night; and you did not give it -to her. She gave her soul again tonight and did not give it to you. -... If she will not tell you what she has been doing the past two -days...you must go and ask Erik!" - -He ran behind the scenes and placed himself in her way. She saw -him for her eyes were looking for him. She said: - -"Quick! Quick!...Come!" - -And she dragged him to her dressing-room. - -Raoul at once threw himself on his knees before her. He swore -to her that he would go and he entreated her never again to withhold -a single hour of the ideal happiness which she had promised him. -She let her tears flow. They kissed like a despairing brother -and sister who have been smitten with a common loss and who meet -to mourn a dead parent. - -Suddenly, she snatched herself from the young man's soft and timid -embrace, seemed to listen to something, and, with a quick gesture, -pointed to the door. When he was on the threshold, she said, -in so low a voice that the viscount guessed rather than heard her words: - -"To-morrow, my dear betrothed! And be happy, Raoul: I sang -for you to-night!" - -He returned the next day. But those two days of absence had broken -the charm of their delightful make-believe. They looked at each other, -in the dressing-room, with their sad eyes, without exchanging a word. -Raoul had to restrain himself not to cry out: - -"I am jealous! I am jealous! I am jealous!" - -But she heard him all the same. Then she said: - -"Come for a walk, dear. The air will do you good." - -Raoul thought that she would propose a stroll in the country, -far from that building which he detested as a prison whose jailer -he could feel walking within the walls...the jailer Erik.... -But she took him to the stage and made him sit on the wooden -curb of a well, in the doubtful peace and coolness of a first scene -set for the evening's performance. - -On another day, she wandered with him, hand in, hand, along the deserted -paths of a garden whose creepers had been cut out by a decorator's -skilful hands. It was as though the real sky, the real flowers, -the real earth were forbidden her for all time and she condemned -to breathe no other air than that of the theater. An occasional -fireman passed, watching over their melancholy idyll from afar. -And she would drag him up above the clouds, in the magnificent -disorder of the grid, where she loved to make him giddy by running -in front of him along the frail bridges, among the thousands of ropes -fastened to the pulleys, the windlasses, the rollers, in the midst -of a regular forest of yards and masts. If he hesitated, she said, -with an adorable pout of her lips: - -"You, a sailor!" - -And then they returned to terra firma, that is to say, to some -passage that led them to the little girls' dancing-school, where -brats between six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope -of becoming great dancers one day, "covered with diamonds.... -Meanwhile, Christine gave them sweets instead. - -She took him to the wardrobe and property-rooms, took him all over -her empire, which was artificial, but immense, covering seventeen -stories from the ground-floor to the roof and inhabited by an -army of subjects. She moved among them like a popular queen, -encouraging them in their labors, sitting down in the workshops, -giving words of advice to the workmen whose hands hesitated to cut -into the rich stuffs that were to clothe heroes. There were -inhabitants of that country who practised every trade. There -were cobblers, there were goldsmiths. All had learned to know -her and to love her, for she always interested herself in all -their troubles and all their little hobbies. - -She knew unsuspected corners that were secretly occupied by little -old couples. She knocked at their door and introduced Raoul to them -as a Prince Charming who had asked for her hand; and the two of them, -sitting on some worm-eaten "property," would listen to the legends -of the Opera, even as, in their childhood, they had listened to the old -Breton tales. Those old people remembered nothing outside the Opera. -They had lived there for years without number. Past managements -had forgotten them; palace revolutions had taken no notice of them; -the history of France had run its course unknown to them; and nobody -recollected their existence. - -The precious days sped in this way; and Raoul and Christine, -by affecting excessive interest in outside matters, strove awkwardly -to hide from each other the one thought of their hearts. One fact -was certain, that Christine, who until then had shown herself -the stronger of the two, became suddenly inexpressibly nervous. -When on their expeditions, she would start running without reason -or else suddenly stop; and her hand, turning ice-cold in a moment, -would hold the young man back. Sometimes her eyes seemed to -pursue imaginary shadows. She cried, "This way," and "This way," -and "This way," laughing a breathless laugh that often ended -in tears. Then Raoul tried to speak, to question her, in spite -of his promises. But, even before he had worded his question, -she answered feverishly: - -"Nothing...I swear it is nothing." - -Once, when they were passing before an open trapdoor on the stage, -Raoul stopped over the dark cavity. - -"You have shown me over the upper part of your empire, Christine, -but there are strange stories told of the lower part. Shall we -go down?" - -She caught him in her arms, as though she feared to see him disappear -down the black hole, and, in a trembling voice, whispered: - -"Never!...I will not have you go there!...Besides, it's not -mine...EVERYTHING THAT IS UNDERGROUND BELONGS TO HIM!" - -Raoul looked her in the eyes and said roughly: - -"So he lives down there, does he?" - -"I never said so....Who told you a thing like that? Come away! -I sometimes wonder if you are quite sane, Raoul....You always -take things in such an impossible way....Come along! Come!" - -And she literally dragged him away, for he was obstinate and wanted -to remain by the trap-door; that hole attracted him. - -Suddenly, the trap-door was closed and so quickly that they did -not even see the hand that worked it; and they remained quite dazed. - -"Perhaps HE was there," Raoul said, at last. - -She shrugged her shoulders, but did not seem easy. - -"No, no, it was the `trap-door-shutters.' They must do something, -you know....They open and shut the trap-doors without -any particular reason....It's like the `door-shutters:' -they must spend their time somehow." - -"But suppose it were HE, Christine?" - -"No, no! He has shut himself up, he is working." - -"Oh, really! He's working, is he?" - -"Yes, he can't open and shut the trap-doors and work at the same time." -She shivered. - -"What is he working at?" - -"Oh, something terrible!...But it's all the better for us. -...When he's working at that, he sees nothing; he does not eat, -drink, or breathe for days and nights at a time...he becomes a -living dead man and has no time to amuse himself with the trap-doors." -She shivered again. She was still holding him in her arms. -Then she sighed and said, in her turn: - -"Suppose it were HE!" - -"Are you afraid of him?" - -"No, no, of course not," she said. - -For all that, on the next day and the following days, Christine was -careful to avoid the trap-doors. Her agitation only increased as -the hours passed. At last, one afternoon, she arrived very late, -with her face so desperately pale and her eyes so desperately red, -that Raoul resolved to go to all lengths, including that which he -foreshadowed when he blurted out that he would not go on the North Pole -expedition unless she first told him the secret of the man's voice. - -"Hush! Hush, in Heaven's name I Suppose HE heard you, -you unfortunate Raoul!" - -And Christine's eyes stared wildly at everything around her. - -"I will remove you from his power, Christine, I swear it. -And you shall not think of him any more." - -"Is it possible?" - -She allowed herself this doubt, which was an encouragernent, -while dragging the young man up to the topmost floor of the theater, -far, very far from the trap-doors. - -"I shall hide you in some unknown corner of the world, where HE -can not come to look for you. You will be safe; and then I shall -go away...as you have sworn never to marry." - -Christine seized Raoul's hands and squeezed them with incredible rapture. -But, suddenly becoming alarmed again, she turned away her head. - -"Higher!" was all she said. "Higher still!" - -And she dragged him up toward the summit. - -He had a difficulty in following her. They were soon under -the very roof, in the maze of timber-work. They slipped -through the buttresses, the rafters, the joists; they ran -from beam to beam as they might have run from tree to tree in a forest. - -And, despite the care which she took to look behind her at every moment, -she failed to see a shadow which followed her like her own shadow, -which stopped when she stopped, which started again when she did -and which made no more noise than a well-conducted shadow should. -As for Raoul, he saw nothing either; for, when he had Christine in -front of him, nothing interested him that happened behind. - - - -Chapter XII Apollo's Lyre - - -On this way, they reached the roof. Christine tripped over it -as lightly as a swallow. Their eyes swept the empty space between -the three domes and the triangular pediment. She breathed freely -over Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below. -She called Raoul to come quite close to her and they walked side -by side along the zinc streets, in the leaden avenues; they looked -at their twin shapes in the huge tanks, full of stagnant water, where, -in the hot weather, the little boys of the ballet, a score or so, -learn to swim and dive. - -The shadow had followed behind them clinging to their steps; -and the two children little suspected its presence when they at -last sat down, trustingly, under the mighty protection of Apollo, -who, with a great bronze gesture, lifted his huge lyre to the heart -of a crimson sky. - -It was a gorgeous spring evening. Clouds, which had just received -their gossamer robe of gold and purple from the setting sun, -drifted slowly by; and Christine said to Raoul: - -"Soon we shall go farther and faster than the clouds, to the end of -the world, and then you will leave me, Raoul. But, if, when the moment -comes APOLLO' for you to take me away, I refuse to go with you-- -well you must carry me off by force!" - -"Are you afraid that you will change your mind, Christine?" - -"I don't know," she said, shaking her head in an odd fashion. -"He is a demon!" And she shivered and nestled in his arms with a moan. -"I am afraid now of going back to live with him...in the ground!" - -"What compels you to go back, Christine?" - -"If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen!... -But I can't do it, I can't do it!...I know one ought to be sorry -for people who live underground....But he is too horrible! -And yet the time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I -do not go, he will come and fetch me with his voice. And he will -drag me with him, underground, and go on his knees before me, -with his death's head. And he will tell me that he loves me! -And he will cry! Oh, those tears, Raoul, those tears in the two -black eye-sockets of the death's head! I can not see those tears -flow again!" - -She wrung her hands in anguish, while Raoul pressed her to his heart. - -"No, no, you shall never again hear him tell you that he loves you! -You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly -at once!" - -And he tried to drag her away, then and there. But she stopped him. - -"No, no," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Not now!...It would -be too cruel...let him hear me sing to-morrow evening...and then -we will go away. You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room -at midnight exactly. He will then be waiting for me in the dining-room -by the lake...we shall be free and you shall take me away.... -You must promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse; for I feel that, -if I go back this time, I shall perhaps never return." - -And she gave a sigh to which it seemed to her that another sigh, -behind her, replied. - -"Didn't you hear?" - -Her teeth chattered. - -"No," said Raoul, "I heard nothing." - -"It is too terrible," she confessed, "to be always trembling -like this!...And yet we run no danger here; we are at home, -in the sky, in the open air, in the light. The sun is flaming; -and night-birds can not bear to look at the sun. I have never seen -him by daylight...it must be awful!...Oh, the first time I -saw him!...I thought that he was going to die." - -"Why?" asked Raoul, really frightened at the aspect which this -strange confidence was taking. - -"BECAUSE I HAD SEEN HIM!" - -This time, Raoul and Christine turned round at the same time: - -"There is some one in pain," said Raoul. "Perhaps some one has -been hurt. Did you hear?" - -"I can't say," Christine confessed. "Even when he is not there, -my ears are full of his sighs. Still, if you heard..." - -They stood up and looked around them. They were quite alone -on the immense lead roof. They sat down again and Raoul said: - -"Tell me how you saw him first." - -"I had heard him for three months without seeing him. The first time I -heard it, I thought, as you did, that that adorable voice was singing -in another room. I went out and looked everywhere; but, as you know, -Raoul, my dressing-room is very much by itself; and I could not find -the voice outside my room, whereas it went on steadily inside. -And it not only sang, but it spoke to me and answered my questions, -like a real man's voice, with this difference, that it was as beautiful -as the voice of an angel. I had never got the Angel of Music whom -my poor father had promised to send me as soon as he was dead. -I really think that Mamma Valerius was a little bit to blame. -I told her about it; and she at once said, `It must be the Angel; -at any rate, you can do no harm by asking him.' I did so; -and the man's voice replied that, yes, it was the Angel's voice, -the voice which I was expecting and which my father had promised me. -From that time onward, the voice and I became great friends. -It asked leave to give me lessons every day. I agreed and never failed -to keep the appointment which it gave me in my dressing-room. You -have no idea, though you have heard the voice, of what those lessons -were like." - -"No, I have no idea," said Raoul. "What was your accompaniment?" - -"We were accompanied by a music which I do not know: it was behind -the wall and wonderfully accurate. The voice seemed to understand -mine exactly, to know precisely where my father had left off -teaching me. In a few weeks' time, I hardly knew myself when I sang. -I was even frightened. I seemed to dread a sort of witchcraft -behind it; but Mamma Valerius reassured me. She said that she -knew I was much too simple a girl to give the devil a hold on me. -... My progress, by the voice's own order, was kept a secret -between the voice, Mamma Valerius and myself. It was a curious -thing, but, outside the dressing-room, I sang with my ordinary, -every-day voice and nobody noticed anything. I did all that the -voice asked. It said, `Wait and see: we shall astonish Paris!' -And I waited and lived on in a sort of ecstatic dream. It was then -that I saw you for the first time one evening, in the house. -I was so glad that I never thought of concealing my delight when I -reached my dressing-room. Unfortunately, the voice was there before -me and soon noticed, by my air, that something had happened. -It asked what was the matter and I saw no reason for keeping our -story secret or concealing the place which you filled in my heart. -Then the voice was silent. I called to it, but it did not reply; -I begged and entreated, but in vain. I was terrified lest it had -gone for good. I wish to Heaven it had, dear!...That night, -I went home in a desperate condition. I told Mamma Valerius, who said, -`Why, of course, the voice is jealous!' And that, dear, first revealed -to me that I loved you." - -Christine stopped and laid her head on Raoul's shoulder. They sat -like that for a moment, in silence, and they did not see, did not -perceive the movement, at a few steps from them, of the creeping -shadow of two great black wings, a shadow that came along the roof -so near, so near them that it could have stifled them by closing -over them. - -"The next day," Christine continued, with a sigh, "I went back -to my dressing-room in a very pensive frame of mind. The voice -was there, spoke to me with great sadness and told me plainly that, -if I must bestow my heart on earth, there was nothing for the voice -to do but to go back to Heaven. And it said this with such an accent -of HUMAN sorrow that I ought then and there to have suspected -and begun to believe that I was the victim of my deluded senses. -But my faith in the voice, with which the memory of my father -was so closely intermingled, remained undisturbed. I feared -nothing so much as that I might never hear it again; I had thought -about my love for you and realized all the useless danger of it; -and I did not even know if you remembered me. Whatever happened, -your position in society forbade me to contemplate the possibility -of ever marrying you; and I swore to the voice that you were no -more than a brother to me nor ever would be and that my heart was -incapable of any earthly love. And that, dear, was why I refused to -recognize or see you when I met you on the stage or in the passages. -Meanwhile, the hours during which the voice taught me were spent in -a divine frenzy, until, at last, the voice said to me, `You can now, -Christine Daae, give to men a little of the music of Heaven.' -I don't know how it was that Carlotta did not come to the theater -that night nor why I was called upon to sing in her stead; but I -sang with a rapture I had never known before and I felt for a moment -as if my soul were leaving my body!" - -"Oh, Christine," said Raoul, "my heart quivered that night at every -accent of your voice. I saw the tears stream down your cheeks and I -wept with you. How could you sing, sing like that while crying?" - -"I felt myself fainting," said Christine, "I closed my eyes. -When I opened them, you were by my side. But the voice was -there also, Raoul! I was afraid for your sake and again I would -not recognize you and began to laugh when you reminded me that -you had picked up my scarf in the sea!...Alas, there is no -deceiving the voice!...The voice recognized you and the voice -was jealous!...It said that, if I did not love you, I would not -avoid you, but treat you like any other old friend. It made me -scene upon scene. At last, I said to the voice, `That will do! -I am going to Perros to-morrow, to pray on my father's grave, and I -shall ask M. Raoul de Chagny to go with me.' `Do as you please,' -replied the voice, `but I shall be at Perros too, for I am wherever -you are, Christine; and, if you are still worthy of me, if you -have not lied to me, I will play you The Resurrection of Lazarus, -on the stroke of midnight, on your father's tomb and on your -father's violin.' That, dear, was how I came to write you the -letter that brought you to Perros. How could I have been -so beguiled? How was it, when I saw the personal, the selfish -point of view of the voice, that I did not suspect some impostor? -Alas, I was no longer mistress of myself: I had become his thing!" - -"But, after all," cried Raoul, "you soon came to know the truth! -Why did you not at once rid yourself of that abominable nightmare?" - -"Know the truth, Raoul? Rid myself of that nightmare? But, my poor boy, -I was not caught in the nightmare until the day when I learned -the truth!...Pity me, Raoul, pity me!...You remember -the terrible evening when Carlotta thought that she had been -turned into a toad on the stage and when the house was suddenly -plunged in darkness through the chandelier crashing to the floor? -There were killed and wounded that night and the whole theater rang -with terrified screams. My first thought was for you and the voice. -I was at once easy, where you were concerned, for I had seen you -in your brother's box and I knew that you were not in danger. -But the voice had told me that it would be at the performance and I -was really afraid for it, just as if it had been an ordinary person -who was capable of dying. I thought to myself, `The chandelier -may have come down upon the voice.' I was then on the stage -and was nearly running into the house, to look for the voice among -the killed and wounded, when I thought that, if the voice was safe, -it would be sure to be in my dressing-room and I rushed to my room. -The voice was not there. I locked my door and, with tears in my eyes, -besought it, if it were still alive, to manifest itself to me. -The voice did not reply, but suddenly I heard a long, beautiful wail -which I knew well. It is the plaint of Lazarus when, at the sound -of the Redeemer's voice, he begins to open his eyes and see the light -of day. It was the music which you and I, Raoul, heard at Perros. -And then the voice began to sing the leading phrase, "Come! And believe -in me! Whoso believes in me shall live! Walk! Whoso hath believed -in me shall never die!...' I can not tell you the effect which that -music had upon me. It seemed to command me, personally, to come, -to stand up and come to it. It retreated and I followed. `Come! And -believe in me!' I believed in it, I came....I came and-- -this was the extraordinary thing--my dressing-room, as I moved, -seemed to lengthen out...to lengthen out....Evidently, -it must have been an effect of mirrors...for I had the mirror -in front of me....And, suddenly, I was outside the room without -knowing how!" - -"What! Without knowing how? Christine, Christine, you must really -stop dreaming!" - -"I was not dreaming, dear, I was outside my room without -knowing how. You, who saw me disappear from my room one evening, -may be able to explain it; but I can not. I can only tell you that, -suddenly, there was no mirror before me and no dressing-room. -I was in a dark passage, I was frightened and I cried out. -It was quite dark, but for a faint red glimmer at a distant corner -of the wall. I tried out. My voice was the only sound, -for the singing and the violin had stopped. And, suddenly, -a hand was laid on mine...or rather a stone-cold, bony thing -that seized my wrist and did not let go. I cried out again. -An arm took me round the waist and supported me. I struggled -for a little while and then gave up the attempt. I was dragged -toward the little red light and then I saw that I was in the hands -of a man wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a mask that hid -his whole face. I made one last effort; my limbs stiffened, -my mouth opened to scream, but a hand closed it, a hand which I -felt on my lips, on my skin...a hand that smelt of death. -Then I fainted away. - -"When I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded by darkness. -A lantern, standing on the ground, showed a bubbling well. -The water splashing from the well disappeared, almost at once, -under the floor on which I was lying, with my head on the knee -of the man in the black cloak and the black mask. He was bathing -my temples and his hands smelt of death. I tried to push them -away and asked, `Who are you? Where is the voice?' His only -answer was a sigh. Suddenly, a hot breath passed over my face -and I perceived a white shape, beside the man's black shape, -in the darkness. The black shape lifted me on to the white shape, -a glad neighing greeted my astounded ears and I murmured, -`Cesar!' The animal quivered. Raoul, I was lying half back on -a saddle and I had recognized the white horse out of the PROFETA, -which I had so often fed with sugar and sweets. I remembered that, -one evening, there was a rumor in the theater that the horse -had disappeared and that it had been stolen by the Opera ghost. -I believed in the voice, but had never believed in the ghost. -Now, however, I began to wonder, with a shiver, whether I was -the ghost's prisoner. I called upon the voice to help me, for I -should never have imagined that the voice and the ghost were one. -You have heard about the Opera ghost, have you not, Raoul?" - -"Yes, but tell me what happened when you were on the white horse -of the Profeta?" - -"I made no movement and let myself go. The black shape held me up, -and I made no effort to escape. A curious feeling of peacefulness -came over me and I thought that I must be under the influence of -some cordial. I had the full command of my senses; and my eyes became -used to the darkness, which was lit, here and there, by fitful gleams. -I calculated that we were in a narrow circular gallery, probably running -all round the Opera, which is immense, underground. I had once -been down into those cellars, but had stopped at the third floor, -though there were two lower still, large enough to hold a town. -But the figures of which I caught sight had made me run away. -There are demons down there, quite black, standing in front of boilers, -and they wield shovels and pitchforks and poke up fires and stir up -flames and, if you come too near them, they frighten you by suddenly -opening the red mouths of their furnaces....Well, while Cesar was quietly -carrying me on his back, I saw those black demons in the distance, -looking quite small, in front of the red fires of their furnaces: -they came into sight, disappeared and came into sight again, as we -went on our winding way. At last, they disappeared altogether. -The shape was still holding me up and Cesar walked on, unled and -sure-footed. I could not tell you, even approximately, how long -this ride lasted; I only know that we seemed to turn and turn and -often went down a spiral stair into the very heart of the earth. -Even then, it may be that my head was turning, but I don't think so: -no, my mind was quite clear. At last, Cesar raised his nostrils, -sniffed the air and quickened his pace a little. I felt a moistness -in the air and Cesar stopped. The darkness had lifted. A sort -of bluey light surrounded us. We were on the edge of a lake, -whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the darkness; -but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat fastened -to an iron ring on the wharf!" - -"A boat!" - -"Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing -supernatural about that underground lake and boat. But think of the -exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't -know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's -shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again. -My gruesome escort must have noticed it, for he sent Cesar back -and I heard his hoofs trampling up a staircase while the man jumped -into the boat, untied the rope that held it and seized the oars. -He rowed with a quick, powerful stroke; and his eyes, under the mask, -never left me. We slipped across the noiseless water in the bluey -light which I told you of; then we were in the dark again and we -touched shore. And I was once more taken up in the man's arms. -I cried aloud. And then, suddenly, I was silent, dazed by the light. -...Yes, a dazzling light in the midst of which I had been put down. -I sprang to my feet. I was in the middle of a drawing-room that -seemed to me to be decorated, adorned and furnished with nothing -but flowers, flowers both magnificent and stupid, because of -the silk ribbons that tied them to baskets, like those which they -sell in the shops on the boulevards. They were much too civilized -flowers, like those which I used to find in my dressing-room -after a first night. And, in the midst of all these flowers, -stood the black shape of the man in the mask, with arms crossed, -and he said, `Don't be afraid, Christine; you are in no danger.' -IT WAS THE VOICE! - -"My anger equaled my amazement. I rushed at the mask and tried -to snatch it away, so as to see the face of the voice. The man said, -`You are in no danger, so long as you do not touch the mask.' -And, taking me gently by the wrists, he forced me into a chair -and then went down on his knees before me and said nothing more! -His humility gave me back some of my courage; and the light restored -me to the realties of life. However extraordinary the adventure might be, -I was now surrounded by mortal, visible, tangible things. -The furniture, the hangings, the candles, the vases and the very -flowers in their baskets, of which I could almost have told whence -they came and what they cost, were bound to confine my imagination -to the limits of a drawing-room quite as commonplace as any that, -at least, had the excuse of not being in the cellars of the Opera. -I had, no doubt, to do with a terrible, eccentric person, who, in some -mysterious fashion, had succeeded in taking up his abode there, -under the Opera house, five stories below the level of the ground. -And the voice, the voice which I had recognized under the mask, -was on its knees before me, WAS A MAN! And I began to cry. ... -The man, still kneeling, must have understood the cause of my tears, -for he said, `It is true, Christine!...I am not an Angel, -nor a genius, nor a ghost...I am Erik!'" - -Christine's narrative was again interrupted. An echo behind them -seemed to repeat the word after her. - -"Erik!" - -What echo?...They both turned round and saw that night had fallen. -Raoul made a movement as though to rise, but Christine kept him -beside her. - -"Don't go," she said. "I want you to know everything HERE!" - -"But why here, Christine? I am afraid of your catching cold." - -"We have nothing to fear except the trap-doors, dear, and here we -are miles away from the trap-doors...and I am not allowed to -see you outside the theater. This is not the time to annoy him. -We must not arouse his suspicion." - -"Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong -to wait till to-morrow evening and that we ought to fly at once." - -"I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will -cause him infinite pain." - -"It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him -for good." - -"You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight." -And she added in a dull voice, "But then it counts both ways... -for we risk his killing us." - -"Does he love you so much?" - -"He would commit murder for me." - -"But one can find out where he lives. One can go in search of him. -Now that we know that Erik is not a ghost, one can speak to him -and force him to answer!" - -Christine shook her head. - -"No, no! There is nothing to be done with Erik except to run away!" - -"Then why, when you were able to run away, did you go back to him?" - -"Because I had to. And you will understand that when I tell you -how I left him." - -"Oh, I hate him!" cried Raoul. "And you, Christine, tell me, -do you hate him too?" - -"No," said Christine simply. - -"No, of course not....Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, -all of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind -which people do not admit even to themselves," said Raoul bitterly. -"The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it. -... Picture it: a man who lives in a palace underground!" -And he gave a leer. - -"Then you want me to go back there?" said the young girl cruelly. -"Take care, Raoul; I have told you: I should never return!" - -There was an appalling silence between the three of them: -the two who spoke and the shadow that listened, behind them. - -"Before answering that," said Raoul, at last, speaking very slowly, -"I should like to know with what feeling he inspires you, since you -do not hate him." - -"With horror!" she said. "That is the terrible thing about it. -He fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I -hate him, Raoul? Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on -the lake, underground. He accuses himself, he curses himself, -he implores my forgiveness!...He confesses his cheat. -He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. -... He has carried me off for love!...He has imprisoned me -with him, underground, for love!...But he respects me: he crawls, -he moans, he weeps!...And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told -him that I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, -give me my liberty...he offered it...he offered to show me -the mysterious road...Only...only he rose too...and I -was made to remember that, though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, -nor a genius, he remained the voice...for he sang. And I listened -... and stayed!...That night, we did not exchange another word. -He sang me to sleep. - -"When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished -little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp -standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. -I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from my -room led to a very comfortable bath-room. On returning to the bedroom, -I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, -`My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. -You have no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. -You are alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going -out shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.' -I felt sure that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. -I ran round my little apartment, looking for a way of escape which I -could not find. I upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, -which had caused me to fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh -and to cry at the same time. - -"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving -three taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I -had not noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full -of boxes and parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely -fashion, while I overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon -him to take off his mask, if it covered the face of an honest man. -He replied serenely, `You shall never see Erik's face.' And he -reproached me with not having finished dressing at that time of day: -he was good enough to tell me that it was two o'clock in the afternoon. -He said he would give me half an hour and, while he spoke, wound up -my watch and set it for me. After which, he asked me to come to -the dining-room, where a nice lunch was waiting for us. - -"I was very angry, slammed the door in his face and went to the -bath-room....When I came out again, feeling greatly refreshed, -Erik said that he loved me, but that he would never tell me -so except when I allowed him and that the rest of the time would -be devoted to music. `What do you mean by the rest of the time?' -I asked. `Five days,' he said, with decision. I asked him if I -should then be free and he said, `You will be free, Christine, for, -when those five days are past, you will have learned not to see me; -and then, from time to time, you will come to see your poor Erik!' -He pointed to a chair opposite him, at a small table, and I sat down, -feeling greatly perturbed. However, I ate a few prawns and the wing -of a chicken and drank half a glass of tokay, which he had himself, -he told me, brought from the Konigsberg cellars. Erik did not eat -or drink. I asked him what his nationality was and if that name -of Erik did not point to his Scandinavian origin. He said that he -had no name and no country and that he had taken the name of Erik -by accident. - -"After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, -saying he would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away -my hand and gave a cry. What I had touched was cold and, at the -same time, bony; and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. -`Oh, forgive me!' he moaned. And he opened a door before me. -`This is my bedroom, if you care to see it. It is rather curious.' -His manners, his words, his attitude gave me confidence and I went -in without hesitation. I felt as if I were entering the room of a -dead person. The walls were all hung with black, but, instead of -the white trimmings that usually set off that funereal upholstery, -there was an enormous stave of music with the notes of the DIES IRAE, -many times repeated. In the middle of the room was a canopy, -from which hung curtains of red brocaded stuff, and, under the canopy, -an open coffin. `That is where I sleep,' said Erik. `One has to get -used to everything in life, even to eternity.' The sight upset me -so much that I turned away my head. - -"Then I saw the keyboard of an organ which filled one whole side -of the walls. On the desk was a music-book covered with red notes. -I asked leave to look at it and read, `Don Juan Triumphant.' -`Yes,' he said, `I compose sometimes.' I began that work twenty years ago. -When I have finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin -and never wake up again.' `You must work at it as seldom as you can,' -I said. He replied, `I sometimes work at it for fourteen days -and nights together, during which I live on music only, -and then I rest for years at a time.' `Will you play me something -out of your Don Juan Triumphant?' I asked, thinking to please him. -`You must never ask me that,' he said, in a gloomy voice. -`I will play you Mozart, if you like, which will only make you weep; -but my Don Juan, Christine, burns; and yet he is not struck by fire -from Heaven.' Thereupon we returned to the drawing-room. I noticed -that there was no mirror in the whole apartment. I was going -to remark upon this, but Erik had already sat down to the piano. -He said, `You see, Christine, there is some music that is so terrible -that it consumes all those who approach it. Fortunately, you have -not come to that music yet, for you would lose all your pretty -coloring and nobody would know you when you returned to Paris. -Let us sing something from the Opera, Christine Daae.' -He spoke these last words as though he were flinging an insult -at me." - -"What did you do?" - -"I had no time to think about the meaning he put into his words. -We at once began the duet in Othello and already the catastrophe -was upon us. I sang Desdemona with a despair, a terror which I -had never displayed before. As for him, his voice thundered -forth his revengeful soul at every note. Love, jealousy, hatred, -burst out around us in harrowing cries. Erik's black mask made -me think of the natural mask of the Moor of Venice. He was -Othello himself. Suddenly, I felt a need to see beneath the mask. -I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a movement -which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore -away the mask. Oh, horror, horror, horror!" - -Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, -while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, -now thrice moaned the cry: - -"Horror!...Horror!...Horror!" - -Raoul and Christine, clasping each other closely, raised their eyes -to the stars that shone in a clear and peaceful sky. Raoul said: - -"Strange, Christine, that this calm, soft night should be so full -of plaintive sounds. One would think that it was sorrowing with us." - -"When you know the secret, Raoul, your ears, like mine, will be -full of lamentations." - -She took Raoul's protecting hands in hers and, with a long shiver, continued: - -"Yes, if I lived to be a hundred, I should always hear the superhuman -cry of grief and rage which he uttered when the terrible sight appeared -before my eyes....Raoul, you have seen death's heads, when they -have been dried and withered by the centuries, and, perhaps, if you -were not the victim of a nightmare, you saw HIS death's head at Perros. -And then you saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. -But all those death's heads were motionless and their dumb horror -was not alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death's mask suddenly -coming to life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, -its nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; -AND NOT A RAY OF LIGHT FROM THE SOCKETS, for, as I learned later, -you can not see his blazing eyes except in the dark. - -"I fell back against the wall and he came up to me, grinding his -teeth, and, as I fell upon my knees, he hissed mad, incoherent words -and curses at me. Leaning over me, he cried, `Look! You want -to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! -Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were -not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like! -Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? -I'm a very good-looking fellow, eh?...When a woman has seen me, -as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind -of Don Juan, you know!' And, drawing himself up to his full height, -with his hand on his hip, wagging the hideous thing that was -his head on his shoulders, he roared, `Look at me! I AM DON -JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned away my head and begged for mercy, -he drew it to him, brutally, twisting his dead fingers into my hair." - -"Enough! Enough!" cried Raoul. "I will kill him. In Heaven's -name, Christine, tell me where the dining-room on the lake is! -I must kill him!" - -"Oh, be quiet, Raoul, if you want to know!" - -"Yes, I want to know how and why you went back; I must know!... -But, in any case, I will kill him!" - -"Oh, Raoul, listen, listen!...He dragged me by my hair and then -...and then...Oh, it is too horrible!" - -"Well, what? Out with it!" exclaimed Raoul fiercely. -"Out with it, quick!" - -"Then he hissed at me. `Ah, I frighten you, do I?...I dare -say!...Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that -this...this...my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, -`tear it off as you did the other! Come! Come along! I insist! -Your hands! Your hands! Give me your hands!' And he seized my -hands and dug them into his awful face. He tore his flesh with -my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails!...`Know,' -he shouted, while his throat throbbed and panted like a furnace, -`know that I am built up of death from head to foot and that it -is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will never, -never leave you!...Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, -crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore -can never leave me again!...As long as you thought me handsome, -you could have come back, I know you would have come back...but, -now that you know my hideousness, you would run away for good. -...So I shall keep you here!...Why did you want to see me? -Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me!...When my own father -never saw me and when my mother, so as not to see me, made me -a present of my first mask!' - -"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the floor, -uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, -went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my reflections. -Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I began -to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about Opera music. -What I now heard was utterly different from what I had heard up to then. -His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but that he had rushed -to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the moment) seemed to me -at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, little by little, -it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. -It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that separated us. -Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY DIRECTION. -`Erik,' I cried, `show me your face without fear! I swear that you -are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I shiver -when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the splendor -of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, and I -also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love... -with words of love in his dead mouth...and the music had ceased... -He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my eyes. - -"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy. -It went on for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him. -My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them; -but they were the price of my liberty. I burned his mask; -and I managed so well that, even when he was not singing, -he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its master. -He was my faithful slave and paid me endless little attentions. -Gradually, I gave him such confidence that he ventured to take me -walking on the banks of the lake and to row me in the boat on its -leaden waters; toward the end of my captivity he let me out through -the gates that closed the underground passages in the Rue Scribe. -Here a carriage awaited us and took us to the Bois. The night when we -met you was nearly fatal to me, for he is terribly jealous of you -and I had to tell him that you were soon going away....Then, -at last, after a fortnight of that horrible captivity, during which I -was filled with pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, -he believed me when I said, `I WILL COME BACK!'" - -"And you went back, Christine," groaned Raoul. - -"Yes, dear, and I must tell you that it was not his frightful -threats when setting me free that helped me to keep my word, -but the harrowing sob which he gave on the threshold of the tomb. -... That sob attached me to the unfortunate man more than I myself -suspected when saying good-by to him. Poor Erik! Poor Erik!" - -"Christine," said Raoul, rising, "you tell me that you love me; -but you had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you -returned to Erik! Remember the masked ball!" - -"Yes; and do you remember those hours which I passed with you, -Raoul...to the great danger of both of us?" - -"I doubted your love for me, during those hours." - -"Do you doubt it still, Raoul?...Then know that each of my -visits to Erik increased my horror of him; for each of those visits, -instead of calming him, as I hoped, made him mad with love! -And I am so frightened, so frightened!... - -"You are frightened...but do you love me? If Erik were -good-looking, would you love me, Christine?" - -She rose in her turn, put her two trembling arms round the young -man's neck and said: - -"Oh, my betrothed of a day, if I did not love you, I would not give -you my lips! Take them, for the first time and the last." - -He kissed her lips; but the night that surrounded them was rent -asunder, they fled as at the approach of a storm and their eyes, -filled with dread of Erik, showed them, before they disappeared, -high up above them, an immense night-bird that stared at them with -its blazing eyes and seemed to cling to the string of Apollo's lyre. - - - -Chapter XIII A Master-Stroke of the Trap-Door Lover - - -Raoul and Christine ran, eager to escape from the roof -and the blazing eyes that showed only in the dark; and they -did not stop before they came to the eighth floor on the way down. - -There was no performance at the Opera that night and the passages -were empty. Suddenly, a queer-looking form stood before them -and blocked the road: - -"No, not this way!" - -And the form pointed to another passage by which they were to reach -the wings. Raoul wanted to stop and ask for an explanation. -But the form, which wore a sort of long frock-coat and a pointed -cap, said: - -"Quick! Go away quickly!" - -Christine was already dragging Raoul, compelling him to start -running again. - -"But who is he? Who is that man?" he asked. - -Christine replied: "It's the Persian." - -"What's he doing here?" - -"Nobody knows. He is always in the Opera." - -"You are making me run away, for the first time in my life. -If we really saw Erik, what I ought to have done was to nail him -to Apollo's lyre, just as we nail the owls to the walls of our -Breton farms; and there would have been no more question of him." - -"My dear Raoul, you would first have had to climb up to Apollo's lyre: -that is no easy matter." - -"The blazing eyes were there!" - -"Oh, you are getting like me now, seeing him everywhere! -What I took for blazing eyes was probably a couple of stars shining -through the strings of the lyre." - -And Christine went down another floor, with Raoul following her. - -"As you have quite made up your mind to go, Christine, I assure -you it would be better to go at once. Why wait for to-morrow? He -may have heard us to-night." - -"No, no, he is working, I tell you, at his Don Juan Triumphant -and not thinking of us." - -"You're so sure of that you keep on looking behind you!" - -"Come to my dressing-room." - -"Hadn't we better meet outside the Opera?" - -"Never, till we go away for good! It would bring us bad luck, -if I did not keep my word. I promised him to see you only here." - -"It's a good thing for me that he allowed you even that. Do you know," -said Raoul bitterly, "that it was very plucky of you to let us play -at being engaged?" - -"Why, my dear, he knows all about it! He said, `I trust you, -Christine. M. de Chagny is in love with you and is going abroad. -Before he goes, I want him to be as happy as I am.' Are people -so unhappy when they love?" - -"Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved." - -They came to Christine's dressing-room. - -"Why do you think that you are safer in this room than on the stage?" -asked Raoul. "You heard him through the walls here, therefore he -can certainly hear us." - -"No. He gave me his word not to be behind the walls of my dressing-room -again and I believe Erik's word. This room and my bedroom -on the lake are for me, exclusively, and not to be approached by him." - -"How can you have gone from this room into that dark passage, -Christine? Suppose we try to repeat your movements; shall we?" - -"It is dangerous, dear, for the glass might carry me off again; -and, instead of running away, I should be obliged to go to the end -of the secret passage to the lake and there call Erik." - -"Would he hear you?" - -"Erik will hear me wherever I call him. He told me so. He is a -very curious genius. You must not think, Raoul, that he is simply -a man who amuses himself by living underground. He does things that -no other man could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows." - -"Take care, Christine, you are making a ghost of him again!" - -"No, he is not a ghost; he is a man of Heaven and earth, that is all." - -"A man of Heaven and earth...that is all!...A nice way to speak of him! -...And are you still resolved to run away from him?" - -"Yes, to-morrow." - -"To-morrow, you will have no resolve left!" - -"Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself; -is that understood?" - -"I shall be here at twelve to-morrow night; I shall keep my promise, -whatever happens. You say that, after listening to the performance, -he is to wait for you in the dining-room on the lake?" - -"Yes." - -"And how are you to reach him, if you don't know how to go out -by the glass?" - -"Why, by going straight to the edge of the lake." - -Christine opened a box, took out an enormous key and showed it -to Raoul. - -"What's that?" he asked. - -"The key of the gate to the underground passage in the Rue Scribe." - -"I understand, Christine. It leads straight to the lake. -Give it to me, Christine, will you?" - -"Never!" she said. "That would be treacherous!" - -Suddenly Christine changed color. A mortal pallor overspread -her features. - -"Oh heavens!" she cried. "Erik! Erik! Have pity on me!" - -"Hold your tongue!" said Raoul. "You told me he could hear you!" - -But the singer's attitude became more and more inexplicable. -She wrung her fingers, repeating, with a distraught air; - -"Oh, Heaven! Oh, Heaven!" - -"But what is it? What is it?" Raoul implored. - -"The ring...the gold ring he gave me." - -"Oh, so Erik gave you that ring!" - -"You know he did, Raoul! But what you don't know is that, -when he gave it to me, he said, `I give you back your liberty, -Christine, on condition that this ring is always on your finger. -As long as you keep it, you will be protected against all danger -and Erik will remain your friend. But woe to you if you ever part -with it, for Erik will have his revenge!'...My dear, my dear, -the ring is gone!...Woe to us both!" - -They both looked for the ring, but could not find it. -Christine refused to be pacified. - -"It was while I gave you that kiss, up above, under Apollo's lyre," -she said. "The ring must have slipped from my finger and dropped -into the street! We can never find it. And what misfortunes are -in store for us now! Oh, to run away!" - -"Let us run away at once," Raoul insisted, once more. - -She hesitated. He thought that she was going to say yes. -... Then her bright pupils became dimmed and she said: - -"No! To-morrow!" - -And she left him hurriedly, still wringing and rubbing her fingers, -as though she hoped to bring the ring back like that. - -Raoul went home, greatly perturbed at all that he had heard. - -{two page color illustration} -They Sat Like that for a Moment in Silence - -"If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug," he said, -aloud, as he went to bed, "she is lost. But I shall save her." - -He put out his lamp and felt a need to insult Erik in the dark. -Thrice over, he shouted: - -"Humbug!...Humbug!...Humbug!" - -But, suddenly, he raised himself on his elbow. A cold sweat poured -from his temples. Two eyes, like blazing coals, had appeared -at the foot of his bed. They stared at him fixedly, terribly, -in the darkness of the night. - -Raoul was no coward; and yet he trembled. He put out a groping, -hesitating hand toward the table by his bedside. He found the matches -and lit his candle. The eyes disappeared. - -Still uneasy in his mind, he thought to himself: - -"She told me that HIS eyes only showed in the dark. His eyes -have disappeared in the light, but HE may be there still." - -And he rose, hunted about, went round the room. He looked -under his bed, like a child. Then he thought himself absurd, -got into bed again and blew out the candle. The eyes reappeared. - -He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed. -Then he cried: - -"Is that you, Erik? Man, genius, or ghost, is it you?" - -He reflected: "If it's he, he's on the balcony!" - -Then he ran to the chest of drawers and groped for his revolver. -He opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and closed -the window again. He went back to bed, shivering, for the night -was cold, and put the revolver on the table within his reach. - -The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed. Were they -between the bed and the window-pane or behind the pane, that is -to say, on the balcony? That was what Raoul wanted to know. -He also wanted to know if those eyes belonged to a human being. -...He wanted to know everything. Then, patiently, calmly, he seized -his revolver and took aim. He aimed a little above the two eyes. -Surely, if they were eyes and if above those two eyes there was -a forehead and if Raoul was not too clumsy... - -The shot made a terrible din amid the silence of the slumbering house. -And, while footsteps came hurrying along the passages, Raoul sat -up with outstretched arm, ready to fire again, if need be. - -This time, the two eyes had disappeared. - -Servants appeared, carrying lights; Count Philippe, terribly anxious: - -"What is it?" - -"I think I have been dreaming," replied the young man. "I fired -at two stars that kept me from sleeping." - -"You're raving! Are you ill? For God's sake, tell me, Raoul: -what happened?" - -And the count seized hold of the revolver. - -"No, no, I'm not raving. .. Besides, we shall soon see..." - -He got out of bed, put on a dressing-gown and slippers, took a light -from the hands of a servant and, opening the window, stepped out -on the balcony. - -The count saw that the window had been pierced by a bullet at a -man's height. Raoul was leaning over the balcony with his candle: -"Aha!" he said. "Blood!...Blood!..... Here, there, more blood! -... That's a good thing! A ghost who bleeds is less dangerous!" -he grinned. - -"Raoul! Raoul! Raoul!" - -The count was shaking him as though he were trying to waken -a sleep-walker. - -"But, my dear brother, I'm not asleep!" Raoul protested impatiently. -"You can see the blood for yourself. I thought I had been dreaming -and firing at two stars. It was Erik's eyes...and here is his -blood!...After all, perhaps I was wrong to shoot; and Christine -is quite capable of never forgiving me....All this would not -have happened if I had drawn the curtains before going to bed." - -"Raoul, have you suddenly gone mad? Wake up!" - -"What, still? You would do better to help me find Erik...for, -after all, a ghost who bleeds can always be found." - -The count's valet said: - -"That is so, sir; there is blood on the balcony." - -The other man-servant brought a lamp, by the light of which they -examined the balcony carefully. The marks of blood followed the rail -till they reached a gutter-spout; then they went up the gutter-spout. - -"My dear fellow," said Count Philippe, "you have fired at a cat." - -"The misfortune is," said Raoul, with a grin, "that it's -quite possible. With Erik, you never know. Is it Erik? -Is it the cat? Is it the ghost? No, with Erik, you can't tell!" - -Raoul went on making this strange sort of remarks which corresponded -so intimately and logically with the preoccupation of his brain -and which, at the same time, tended to persuade many people -that his mind was unhinged. The count himself was seized with -this idea; and, later, the examining magistrate, on receiving -the report of the commissary of police, came to the same conclusion. - -"Who is Erik?" asked the count, pressing his brother's hand. - -"He is my rival. And, if he's not dead, it's a pity." - -He dismissed the servants with a wave of the hand and the two -Chagnys were left alone. But the men were not out of earshot -before the count's valet heard Raoul say, distinctly and emphatically: - -"I shall carry off Christine Daae to-night." - -This phrase was afterward repeated to M. Faure, the examining-magistrate. -But no one ever knew exactly what passed between the two -brothers at this interview. The servants declared that this -was not their first quarrel. Their voices penetrated the wall; -and it was always an actress called Christine Daae that was in question. - -At breakfast--the early morning breakfast, which the count took -in his study--Philippe sent for his brother. Raoul arrived silent -and gloomy. The scene was a very short one. Philippe handed -his brother a copy of the Epoque and said: - -"Read that!" - -The viscount read: - -"The latest news in the Faubourg is that there is a promise of marriage -between Mlle. Christine Daae, the opera-singer, and M. le Vicomte -Raoul de Chagny. If the gossips are to be credited, Count Philippe -has sworn that, for the first time on record, the Chagnys shall not -keep their promise. But, as love is all-powerful, at the Opera as-- -and even more than--elsewhere, we wonder how Count Philippe intends -to prevent the viscount, his brother, from leading the new Margarita -to the altar. The two brothers are said to adore each other; -but the count is curiously mistaken if he imagines that brotherly -love will triumph over love pure and simple." - -"You see, Raoul," said the count, "you are making us ridiculous! -That little girl has turned your head with her ghost-stories." - -The viscount had evidently repeated Christine's narrative -to his brother, during the night. All that he now said was: - -"Good-by, Philippe." - -"Have you quite made up your mind? You are going to-night? With her?" - -No reply. - -"Surely you will not do anything so foolish? I SHALL know -how to prevent you!" - -"Good-by, Philippe," said the viscount again and left the room. - -This scene was described to the examining-magistrate by the -count himself, who did not see Raoul again until that evening, -at the Opera, a few minutes before Christine's disappearance. - -Raoul, in fact, devoted the whole day to his preparations for -the flight. The horses, the carriage, the coachman, the provisions, -the luggage, the money required for the journey, the road to be -taken (he had resolved not to go by train, so as to throw the ghost -off the scent): all this had to be settled and provided for; -and it occupied him until nine o'clock at night. - -At nine o'clock, a sort of traveling-barouche with the curtains of its -windows close-down, took its place in the rank on the Rotunda side. -It was drawn by two powerful horses driven by a coachman whose -face was almost concealed in the long folds of a muffler. -In front of this traveling-carriage were three broughams, -belonging respectively to Carlotta, who had suddenly returned to Paris, -to Sorelli and, at the head of the rank, to Comte Philippe de Chagny. -No one left the barouche. The coachman remained on his box, -and the three other coachmen remained on theirs. - -A shadow in a long black cloak and a soft black felt hat passed along -the pavement between the Rotunda and the carriages, examined the barouche -carefully, went up to the horses and the coachman and then moved away -without saying a word, The magistrate afterward believed that this -shadow was that of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny; but I do not agree, -seeing that that evening, as every evening, the Vicomte de Chagny -was wearing a tall hat, which hat, besides, was subsequently found. -I am more inclined to think that the shadow was that of the ghost, -who knew all about the whole affair, as the reader will soon perceive. - -They were giving FAUST, as it happened, before a splendid house. -The Faubourg was magnificently represented; and the paragraph -in that morning's EPOQUE had already produced its effect, for all -eyes were turned to the box in which Count Philippe sat alone, -apparently in a very indifferent and careless frame of mind. -The feminine element in the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled; -and the viscount's absence gave rise to any amount of whispering -behind the fans. Christine Daae met with a rather cold reception. -That special audience could not forgive her for aiming so high. - -The singer noticed this unfavorable attitude of a portion -of the house and was confused by it. - -The regular frequenters of the Opera, who pretended to know -the truth about the viscount's love-story, exchanged significant -smiles at certain passages in Margarita's part; and they made a show -of turning and looking at Philippe de Chagny's box when Christine sang: - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is." - -The count sat with his chin on his hand and seemed to pay no attention -to these manifestations. He kept his eyes fixed on the stage; -but his thoughts appeared to be far away. - -Christine lost her self-assurance more and more. She trembled. -She felt on the verge of a breakdown....Carolus Fonta -wondered if she was ill, if she could keep the stage until the end -of the Garden Act. In the front of the house, people remembered -the catastrophe that had befallen Carlotta at the end of that act -and the historic "co-ack" which had momentarily interrupted her -career in Paris. - -Just then, Carlotta made her entrance in a box facing the stage, -a sensational entrance. Poor Christine raised her eyes upon this -fresh subject of excitement. She recognized her rival. She thought -she saw a sneer on her lips. That saved her. She forgot everything, -in order to triumph once more. - -From that moment the prima donna sang with all her heart and soul. -She tried to surpass all that she had done till then; and she succeeded. -In the last act when she began the invocation to the angels, -she made all the members of the audience feel as though they too -had wings. - -In the center of the amphitheater a man stood up and remained standing, -facing the singer. It was Raoul. - -"Holy angel, in Heaven blessed..." - -And Christine, her arms outstretched, her throat filled with music, -the glory of her hair falling over her bare shoulders, uttered the -divine cry: - -"My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -It was at that moment that the stage was suddenly plunged in darkness. -It happened so quickly that the spectators hardly had time to utter -a sound of stupefaction, for the gas at once lit up the stage again. -But Christine Daae was no longer there! - -What had become of her? What was that miracle? All exchanged -glances without understanding, and the excitement at once reached -its height. Nor was the tension any less great on the stage itself. -Men rushed from the wings to the spot where Christine had been -singing that very instant. The performance was interrupted amid -the greatest disorder. - -Where had Christine gone? What witchcraft had snatched her, -away before the eyes of thousands of enthusiastic onlookers and from -the arms of Carolus Fonta himself? It was as though the angels -had really carried her up "to rest." - -Raoul, still standing up in the amphitheater, had uttered a cry. -Count Philippe had sprung to his feet in his box. People looked -at the stage, at the count, at Raoul, and wondered if this -curious event was connected in any way with the paragraph in that -morning's paper. But Raoul hurriedly left his seat, the count -disappeared from his box and, while the curtain was lowered, -the subscribers rushed to the door that led behind the scenes. -The rest of the audience waited amid an indescribable hubbub. -Every one spoke at once. Every one tried to suggest an explanation -of the extraordinary incident. - -At last, the curtain rose slowly and Carolus Fonta stepped -to the conductor's desk and, in a sad and serious voice, said: - -"Ladies and gentlemen, an unprecedented event has taken place and -thrown us into a state of the greatest alarm. Our sister-artist, -Christine Daae, has disappeared before our eyes and nobody can -tell us how!" - - - -Chapter XIV The Singular Attitude of a Safety-Pin - - -Behind the curtain, there was an indescribable crowd. -Artists, scene-shifters, dancers, supers, choristers, subscribers -were all asking questions, shouting and hustling one another. - -"What became of her?" - -"She's run away." - -"With the Vicomte de Chagny, of course!" - -"No, with the count!" - -"Ah, here's Carlotta! Carlotta did the trick!" - -"No, it was the ghost!" And a few laughed, especially as a -careful examination of the trap-doors and boards had put the idea -of an accident out of the question. - -Amid this noisy throng, three men stood talking in a low voice -and with despairing gestures. They were Gabriel, the chorus-master; -Mercier, the acting-manager; and Remy, the secretary. They retired -to a corner of the lobby by which the stage communicates -with the wide passage leading to the foyer of the ballet. -Here they stood and argued behind some enormous "properties." - -"I knocked at the door," said Remy. "They did not answer. -Perhaps they are not in the office. In any case, it's impossible -to find out, for they took the keys with them," - -"They" were obviously the managers, who had given orders, -during the last entr'acte, that they were not to be disturbed -on any pretext whatever. They were not in to anybody. - -"All the same," exclaimed Gabriel, "a singer isn't run away with, -from the middle of the stage, every day!" - -"Did you shout that to them?" asked Mercier, impatiently. - -"I'll go back again," said Remy, and disappeared at a run. - -Thereupon the stage-manager arrived. - -"Well, M. Mercier, are you coming? What are you two doing here? -You're wanted, Mr. Acting-Manager." - -"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives," -declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when -he comes!" - -"And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." - -"Not before the commissary comes." - -"I've been down to the organ myself already." - -"Ah! And what did you see?" - -"Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear--nobody!" - -"What do you want me to do down there for{sic}?" - -"You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his -hands through his rebellious hair. "You're right! But there -might be some one at the organ who could tell us how the stage came -to be suddenly darkened. Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found. -Do you understand that?" - -Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on -the stage of the Opera. - -"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback. -"Well, what about his assistants?" - -"There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, -I tell you! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that -little girl must have, been carried off by somebody else: she didn't -run away by herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find -out about it....And what are the managers doing all this time? -... I gave orders that no one was to go down to the lights and I -posted a fireman in front of the gas-man's box beside the organ. -Wasn't that right?" - -"Yes, yes, quite right, quite right. And now let's wait -for the commissary." - -The stage-manager walked away, shrugging his shoulders, fuming, -muttering insults at those milksops who remained quietly squatting -in a corner while the whole theater was topsyturvy{sic}. - -Gabriel and Mercier were not so quiet as all that. Only they -had received an order that paralyzed them. The managers were not -to be disturbed on any account. Remy had violated that order -and met with no success. - -At that moment he returned from his new expedition, wearing a -curiously startled air. - -"Well, have you seen them?" asked Mercier. - -"Moncharmin opened the door at last. His eyes were starting out -of his head. I thought he meant to strike me. I could not get -a word in; and what do you think he shouted at me? `Have you -a safety-pin?' `No!' `Well, then, clearout!' I tried to tell him -that an unheard-of thing had happened on the stage, but he roared, -`A safety-pin! Give me a safety-pin at once!' A boy heard him-- -he was bellowing like a bull--ran up with a safety-pin and gave it -to him; whereupon Moncharmin slammed the door in my face, and there -you are!" - -"And couldn't you have said, `Christine Daae.'" - -"I should like to have seen you in my place. He was foaming at -the mouth. He thought of nothing but his safety-pin. I believe, -if they hadn't brought him one on the spot, he would have fallen -down in a fit!...Oh, all this isn't natural; and our managers -are going mad!...Besides, it can't go on like this! I'm not used -to being treated in that fashion!" - -Suddenly Gabriel whispered: - -"It's another trick of O. G.'s." - -Rimy gave a grin, Mercier a sigh and seemed about to speak...but, -meeting Gabriel's eye, said nothing. - -However, Mercier felt his responsibility increased as the minutes -passed without the managers' appearing; and, at last, he could -stand it no longer. - -"Look here, I'll go and hunt them out myself!" - -Gabriel, turning very gloomy and serious, stopped him. - -"Be careful what you're doing, Mercier! If they're staying -in their office, it's probably because they have to! O. G. has -more than one trick in his bag!" - -But Mercier shook his head. - -"That's their lookout! I'm going! If people had listened to me, -the police would have known everything long ago!" - -And he went. - -"What's everything?" asked Remy. "What was there to tell the police? -Why don't you answer, Gabriel?...Ah, so you know something! -Well, you would do better to tell me, too, if you don't want me -to shout out that you are all going mad!...Yes, that's what -you are: mad!" - -Gabriel put on a stupid look and pretended not to understand -the private secretary's unseemly outburst. - -"What `something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know -what you mean." - -Remy began to lose his temper. - -"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics, -here, between the acts." - -"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed. - -"Then you're the only one!...Do you think that I didn't see -them?...And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, -noticed nothing?...And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, -has no eyes to see with?...Why, all the subscribers were pointing -at our managers!" - -"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his -most innocent air. - -"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they -were doing!...You were there!...And you were watching them, -you and Mercier!...And you were the only two who didn't laugh. - -"I don't understand!" - -Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, -which gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest -him in the least. Remy continued: - -"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY -HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR, THEM NOW?" - -"What? WON'T THEY, HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?" - -"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!" - -"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH -THEM? That is certainly odd!" - -"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK BACKWARD!" - -"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought -that only crabs walked backward!" - -"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!" - -"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge. - -"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend -of the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer, -during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did -M. Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, `Go away! Go away! -Whatever you do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have -an infectious disease?" - -"It's incredible!" - -"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard, -didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear -him exclaim, `M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch -M. le Directeur'?" - -"It's terrible!...And what was Richard doing meanwhile?" - -"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, -BOWED IN FRONT OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, -AND WITHDREW BACKWARD." - -"BACKWARD?" - -"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, -he described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED -BACKWARD!...And they went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading -to the managers' office: BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! -... Well, if they are not mad, will you explain what it means?" - -"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggested Gabriel, -without much conviction in his voice. - -The secretary was furious at this wretched joke, made at so -dramatic a moment. He knit his brows and contracted his lips. -Then he put his mouth to Gabriel's ear: - -"Don't be so sly, Gabriel. There are things going on for which you -and Mercier are partly responsible." - -"What do you mean?" asked Gabriel. - -"Christine Daae is not the only one who suddenly disappeared to-night." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"There's no nonsense about it. Perhaps you can tell me why, -when Mother Giry came down to the foyer just now, Mercier took -her by the hand and hurried her away with him?" - -"Really?" said Gabriel, "I never saw it." - -"You did see it, Gabriel, for you went with Mercier and Mother Giry -to Mercier's office. Since then, you and Mercier have been seen, -but no one has seen Mother Giry." - -"Do you think we've eaten her?" - -"No, but you've locked her up in the office; and any one passing -the office can hear her yelling, `Oh, the scoundrels! Oh, -the scoundrels!'" - -At this point of this singular conversation, Mercier arrived, -all out of breath. - -"There!" he said, in a gloomy voice. "It's worse than ever!... -I shouted, `It's a serious matter! Open the door! It's I, Mercier.' -I heard footsteps. The door opened and Moncharmin appeared. -He was very pale. He said, `What do you want?' I answered, `Some one -has run away with Christine Daae.' What do you think he said? -`And a good job, too!' And he shut the door, after putting this -in my hand." - -Mercier opened his hand; Remy and Gabriel looked. - -"The safety-pin!" cried Remy. - -"Strange! Strange!" muttered Gabriel, who could not help shivering. - -Suddenly a voice made them all three turn round. - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine -Daae is?" - -In spite of the seriousness of the circumstances, the absurdity -of the question would have made them roar with laughter, if they -had not caught sight of a face so sorrow-stricken that they were -at once seized with pity. It was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. - - - -Chapter XV Christine! Christine! - - -Raoul's first thought, after Christine Daae's fantastic disappearance, -was to accuse Erik. He no longer doubted the almost supernatural -powers of the Angel of Music, in this domain of the Opera in -which he had set up his empire. And Raoul rushed on the stage, -in a mad fit of love and despair. - -"Christine! Christine!" he moaned, calling to her as he felt -that she must be calling to him from the depths of that dark pit -to which the monster had carried her. "Christine! Christine!" - -And he seemed to hear the girl's screams through the frail boards -that separated him from her. He bent forward, he listened, -...he wandered over the stage like a madman. Ah, to descend, -to descend into that pit of darkness every entrance to which was -closed to him,...for the stairs that led below the stage were -forbidden to one and all that night! - -"Christine! Christine!..." - -People pushed him aside, laughing. They made fun of him. -They thought the poor lover's brain was gone! - -By what mad road, through what passages of mystery and darkness -known to him alone had Erik dragged that pure-souled child to the -awful haunt, with the Louis-Philippe room, opening out on the lake? - -"Christine! Christine!...Why don't you answer?...Are you -alive?..." - -Hideous thoughts flashed through Raoul's congested brain. -Of course, Erik must have discovered their secret, must have known -that Christine had played him false. What a vengeance would be his! - -And Raoul thought again of the yellow stars that had come, -the night before, and roamed over his balcony. Why had he not put -them out for good? There were some men's eyes that dilated in the -darkness and shone like stars or like cats' eyes. Certainly Albinos, -who seemed to have rabbits' eyes by day, had cats' eyes at night: -everybody knew that!...Yes, yes, he had undoubtedly fired at Erik. -Why had he not killed him? The monster had fled up the gutter-spout -like a cat or a convict who--everybody knew that also--would scale -the very skies, with the help of a gutter-spout....No doubt Erik -was at that time contemplating some decisive step against Raoul, -but he had been wounded and had escaped to turn against poor -Christine instead. - -Such were the cruel thoughts that haunted Raoul as he ran -to the singer's dressing-room. - -"Christine! Christine!" - -Bitter tears scorched the boy's eyelids as he saw scattered over -the furniture the clothes which his beautiful bride was to have worn -at the hour of their flight. Oh, why had she refused to leave earlier? - -Why had she toyed with the threatening catastrophe? Why toyed -with the monster's heart? Why, in a final access of pity, -had she insisted on flinging, as a last sop to that dcmon's soul, -her divine song: - - "Holy angel, in Heaven blessed, - My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -Raoul, his throat filled with sobs, oaths and insults, -fumbled awkwardly at the great mirror that had opened one night, -before his eyes, to let Christine pass to the murky dwelling below. -He pushed, pressed, groped about, but the glass apparently obeyed -no one but Erik....Perhaps actions were not enough with a glass -of the kind? Perhaps he was expected to utter certain words? -When he was a little boy, he had heard that there were things -that obeyed the spoken word! - -Suddenly, Raoul remembered something about a gate opening into -the Rue Scribe, an underground passage running straight to the Rue -Scribe from the lake....Yes, Christine had told him about that. -...And, when he found that the key was no longer in the box, -he nevertheless ran to the Rue Scribe. Outside, in the street, -he passed his trembling hands over the huge stones, felt for outlets -...met with iron bars...were those they?...Or these?... -Or could it be that air-hole?...He plunged his useless eyes -through the bars....How dark it was in there!...He listened.... -All was silence!...He went round the building...and came to bigger bars, -immense gates!...It was the entrance to the Cour de I'Administration. - -Raoul rushed into the doorkeeper's lodge. - -"I beg your pardon, madame, could you tell me where to find a gate -or door, made of bars, iron bars, opening into the Rue Scribe... -and leading to the lake?...You know the lake I mean?...Yes, -the underground lake...under the Opera." - -"Yes, sir, I know there is a lake under the Opera, but I don't know -which door leads to it. I have never been there!" - -"And the Rue Scribe, madame, the Rue Scribe? Have you never been -to the Rue Scribe?" - -The woman laughed, screamed with laughter! Raoul darted away, -roaring with anger, ran up-stairs, four stairs at a time, -down-stairs, rushed through the whole of the business side -of the opera-house, found himself once more in the light of the stage. - -He stopped, with his heart thumping in his chest: suppose Christine -Daae had been found? He saw a group of men and asked: - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine -Daae is?" - -And somebody laughed. - -At the same moment the stage buzzed with a new sound and, amid a crowd -of men in evening-dress, all talking and gesticulating together, -appeared a man who seemed very calm and displayed a pleasant face, -all pink and chubby-cheeked, crowned with curly hair and lit up by a -pair of wonderfully serene blue eyes. Mercier, the acting-manager, -called the Vicomte de Chagny's attention to him and said: - -"This is the gentleman to whom you should put your question, monsieur. -Let me introduce Mifroid, the commissary of police." - -"Ah, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! Delighted to meet you, monsieur," -said the commissary. "Would you mind coming with me?...And -now where are the managers?...Where are the managers?" - -Mercier did not answer, and Remy, the secretary, volunteered the -information that the managers were locked up in their office -and that they knew nothing as yet of what had happened. - -"You don't mean to say so! Let us go up to the office!" - -And M. Mifroid, followed by an ever-increasing crowd, turned toward -the business side of the building. Mercier took advantage -of the confusion to slip a key into Gabriel's hand: - -"This is all going very badly," he whispered. "You had better let -Mother Giry out." - -And Gabriel moved away. - -They soon came to the managers' door. Mercier stormed in vain: -the door remained closed. - -"Open in the name of the law!" commanded M. Mifroid, in a loud -and rather anxious voice. - -At last the door was opened. All rushed in to the office, -on the commissary's heels. - -Raoul was the last to enter. As he was about to follow the rest -into the room, a hand was laid on his shoulder and he heard these words -spoken in his ear: - -"ERIK'S SECRETS CONCERN NO ONE BUT HIMSELF!" - -He turned around, with a stifled exclamation. The hand that was -laid on his shoulder was now placed on the lips of a person with an -ebony skin, with eyes of jade and with an astrakhan cap on his head: -the Persian! The stranger kept up the gesture that recommended -discretion and then, at the moment when the astonished viscount -was about to ask the reason of his mysterious intervention, -bowed and disappeared. - - - -Chapter XVI Mme. Giry's Astounding Revelations as to Her -Personal Relations with the Opera Ghost - - -Before following the commissary into the manager's office I -must describe certain extraordinary occurrences that took place -in that office which Remy and Mercier had vainly tried to enter -and into which MM. Richard and Moncharmin had locked themselves -with an object which the reader does not yet know, but which it -is my duty, as an historian, to reveal without further postponement. - -I have had occasion to say that the managers' mood had undergone -a disagreeable change for some time past and to convey the fact -that this change was due not only to the fall of the chandelier -on the famous night of the gala performance. - -The reader must know that the ghost had calmly been paid his first -twenty thousand francs. Oh, there had been wailing and gnashing -of teeth, indeed! And yet the thing had happened as simply as could be. - -One morning, the managers found on their table an envelope -addressed to "Monsieur O. G. (private)" and accompanied by a note -from O. G. himself: - -The time has come to carry out the clause in the memorandum-book. -Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope, -seal it with your own seal and hand it to Mme. Giry, who will do -what is necessary. - -The managers did not hesitate; without wasting time in asking -how these confounded communications came to be delivered in an -office which they were careful to keep locked, they seized this -opportunity of laying hands, on the mysterious blackmailer. -And, after telling the whole story, under the promise of secrecy, -to Gabriel and Mercier, they put the twenty thousand francs into the -envelope and without asking for explanations, handed it to Mme. Giry, -who had been reinstated in her functions. The box-keeper displayed -no astonishment. I need hardly say that she was well watched. -She went straight to the ghost's box and placed the precious envelope -on the little shelf attached to the ledge. The two managers, -as well as Gabriel and Mercier, were hidden in such a way that -they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second during the -performance and even afterward, for, as the envelope had not moved, -those who watched it did not move either; and Mme. Giry went -away while the managers, Gabriel and Mercier were still there. -At last, they became tired of waiting and opened the envelope, -after ascertaining that the seals had not been broken. - -At first sight, Richard and Moncharmin thought that the notes were -still there; but soon they perceived that they were not the same. -The twenty real notes were gone and had been replaced by twenty notes, -of the "Bank of St. Farce"![2] - ----- -[2] Flash notes drawn on the "Bank of St. Farce" in France -correspond with those drawn on the "Bank of Engraving" in England.-- -Translator's Note. - -The managers' rage and fright were unmistakable. Moncharmin wanted -to send for the commissary of police, but Richard objected. -He no doubt had a plan, for he said: - -"Don't let us make ourselves ridiculous! All Paris would laugh at us. -O. G. has won the first game: we will win the second." - -He was thinking of the next month's allowance. - -Nevertheless, they had been so absolutely tricked that they were -bound to suffer a certain dejection. And, upon my word, it was not -difficult to understand. We must not forget that the managers had -an idea at the back of their minds, all the time, that this strange -incident might be an unpleasant practical joke on the part of their -predecessors and that it would not do to divulge it prematurely. -On the other hand, Moncharmin was sometimes troubled with a suspicion -of Richard himself, who occasionally took fanciful whims into -his head. And so they were content to await events, while keeping -an eye on Mother Giry. Richard would not have her spoken to. - -"If she is a confederate," he said, "the notes are gone long ago. -But, in my opinion, she is merely an idiot." - -"She's not the only idiot in this business," said Moncharmin pensively. - -"Well, who could have thought it?" moaned Richard. "But don't -be afraid...next time, I shall have taken my precautions." - -The next time fell on the same day that beheld the disappearance -of Christine Daae. In the morning, a note from the ghost reminded them -that the money was due. It read: - -Do just as you did last time. It went very well. Put the twenty -thousand in the envelope and hand it to our excellent Mme. Giry. - -And the note was accompanied by the usual envelope. They had only -to insert the notes. - -This was done about half an hour before the curtain rose on the -first act of Faust. Richard showed the envelope to Moncharmin. -Then he counted the twenty thousand-franc notes in front of him -and put the notes into the envelope, but without closing it. - -"And now," he said, "let's have Mother Giry in." - -The old woman was sent for. She entered with a sweeping courtesy. -She still wore her black taffeta dress, the color of which was rapidly -turning to rust and lilac, to say nothing of the dingy bonnet. -She seemed in a good temper. She at once said: - -"Good evening, gentlemen! It's for the envelope, I suppose?" - -"Yes, Mme. Giry," said Richard, most amiably. "For the envelope -... and something else besides." - -"At your service, M. Richard, at your service. And what is -the something else, please?" - -"First of all, Mme. Giry, I have a little question to put to you." - -"By all means, M. Richard: Mme. Giry is here to answer you." - -"Are you still on good terms with the ghost?" - -"Couldn't be better, sir; couldn't be better." - -"Ah, we are delighted....Look here, Mme. Giry," said Richard, -in the tone of making an important confidence. "We may just as well -tell you, among ourselves...you're no fool!" - -"Why, sir," exclaimed the box-keeper, stopping the pleasant nodding -of the black feathers in her dingy bonnet, "I assure you no one has -ever doubted that!" - -"We are quite agreed and we shall soon understand one another. -The story of the ghost is all humbug, isn't it?...Well, -still between ourselves,...it has lasted long enough." - -Mme. Giry looked at the managers as though they were talking Chinese. -She walked up to Richard's table and asked, rather anxiously: - -"What do you mean? I don't understand." - -"Oh, you, understand quite well. In any case, you've got to understand. -... And, first of all, tell us his name." - -"Whose name?" - -"The name of the man whose accomplice you are, Mme. Giry!" - -"I am the ghost's accomplice? I?...His accomplice in what, pray?" - -"You do all he wants." - -"Oh! He's not very troublesome, you know." - -"And does he still tip you?" - -"I mustn't complain." - -"How much does he give you for bringing him that envelope?" - -"Ten francs." - -MME. GIRY' - -"You poor thing! That's not much, is it? - -"Why?" - -"I'll tell you that presently, Mme. Giry. Just now we should like -to know for what extraordinary reason you have given yourself body -and soul, to this ghost...Mme. Giry's friendship and devotion -are not to be bought for five francs or ten francs." - -"That's true enough....And I can tell you the reason, sir. -There's no disgrace about it. .. on the contrary." - -"We're quite sure of that, Mme. Giry!" - -"Well, it's like this...only the ghost doesn't like me to talk -about his business." - -"Indeed?" sneered Richard. - -"But this is a matter that concerns myself alone....Well, -it was in Box Five one evening, I found a letter addressed to myself, -a sort of note written in red ink. I needn't read the letter to -you sir; I know it by heart, and I shall never forget it if I live -to be a hundred!" - -And Mme. Giry, drawing herself up, recited the letter with -touching eloquence: - -MADAM: - -1825. Mlle. Menetrier, leader of the ballet, became Marquise -de Cussy. - -1832. Mlle. Marie Taglioni, a dancer, became Comtesse Gilbert -des Voisins. - -1846. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain. - -1847. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King -Louis of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld. - -1848. Mlle. Maria, a dancer, became Baronne d'Herneville. - -1870. Theresa Hessier, a dancer, married Dom Fernando, brother to -the King of Portugal. - -Richard and Moncharmin listened to the old woman, who, as she -proceeded with the enumeration of these glorious nuptials, -swelled out, took courage and, at last, in a voice bursting -with pride, flung out the last sentence of the prophetic letter: - -1885. Meg Giry, Empress! - -Exhausted by this supreme effort, the box-keeper fell into -a chair, saying: - -"Gentlemen, the letter was signed, `Opera Ghost.' I had heard much -of the ghost, but only half believed in him. From the day when he -declared that my little Meg, the flesh of my flesh, the fruit -of my womb, would be empress, I believed in him altogether." - -And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry's -excited features to understand what could be got out of that fine -intellect with the two words "ghost" and "empress." - -But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? -That was the question. - -"You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he says?" -asked Moncharmin. - -"Yes. To begin with, I owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted -to be the leader of a row. I said to the ghost, `If she is to be empress -in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at once.' -He said, `Look upon it as done.' And he had only a word to say -to M. Poligny and the thing was done." - -"So you see that M. Poligny saw him!" - -"No, not any more than I did; but he heard him. The ghost said -a word in his ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, -looking so dreadfully pale." - -Moncharmin heaved a sigh. "What a business!" he groaned. - -"Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between -the ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny -to do M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of -the ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! -... But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. -"The only person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry. -... Mme. Giry, do you know what is in this envelope?" - -"Why, of course not," she said. - -"Well, look." - -Mine. Giry looked into the envelope with a lackluster eye, -which soon recovered its brilliancy. - -"Thousand-franc notes!" she cried. - -"Yes, Mme. Giry, thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" - -"I, sir? I?...I swear..." - -"Don't swear, Mme. Giry!...And now I will tell you the second -reason why I sent for you. Mme. Giry, I am going to have you arrested." - -The two black feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected -the attitude of two notes of interrogation, changed into two notes -of exclamation; as for the bonnet itself, it swayed in menace -on the old lady's tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, -protest and dismay were furthermore displayed by little Meg's mother -in a sort of extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, -half slide, that brought her right under the nose of M. Richard, -who could not help pushing back his chair. - -"HAVE ME ARRESTED!" - -The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth -that were left to it into Richard's face. - -M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. -His threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out -the keeper of Box Five to the absent magistrates. - -"I am going to have you arrested, Mme. Giry, as a thief!" - -"Say that again!" - -And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear, -before Mr. Manager Mencharmin had time to intervene. But it -was not the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on -the managerial ear, but the envelope itself, the cause of all the trouble, -the magic envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, -which escaped in a fantastic whirl of giant butterflies. - -The two managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both -go on their knees, feverishly, picking up and hurriedly examining -the precious scraps of paper. - -"Are they still genuine, Moncharmin?" - -"Are they still genuine, Richard?" - -"Yes, they are still genuine!" - -Above their heads, Mme. Giry's three teeth were clashing in a -noisy contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could -be dearly distinguished was this LEIT-MOTIF: - -"I, a thief!...I, a thief, I?" - -She choked with rage. She shouted: - -"I never heard of such a thing!" - -And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. - -"In any case," she yelped, "you, M. Richard, ought to know better -than I where the twenty thousand francs went to!" - -"I?" asked Richard, astounded. "And how should I know?" - -Moncharmin, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once insisted -that the good lady should explain herself. - -"What does this mean, Mme. Giry?" he asked. "And why do you say that -M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand -francs went to?" - -As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmin's eyes, -he took Mme. Giry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice -growling and rolling like thunder, he roared: - -"Why should I know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs -went to? Why? Answer me!" - -"Because they went into your pocket!" gasped the old woman, -looking at him as if he were the devil incarnate. - -Richard would have rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not -stayed his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently: - -"How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thousand -francs in his pocket?" - -"I never said that," declared Mme. Giry, "seeing that it was myself -who put the twenty-thousand francs into M. Richard's pocket." -And she added, under her voice, "There! It's out!...And may -the ghost forgive me!" - -Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmin authoritatively ordered -him to be silent. - -"Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me -question her." And he added: "It is really astonishing that you -should take up such a tone!...We are on the verge of clearing -up the whole mystery. And you're in a rage!...You're wrong -to behave like that. .. I'm enjoying myself immensely." - -Mme. Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face -beaming with faith in her own innocence. - -"You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope -which I put into M. Richard's pocket; but I tell you again that I -knew nothing about it... Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!" - -"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which -Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put -twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! -I am very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!" - -"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us -knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!" - -Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, -if Moncharmin had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. -He resumed his questions: - -"What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? -It was not the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box -Five before our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained -the twenty-thousand francs." - -"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave -me was the one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," -explained Mme. Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was -another envelope, just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand -and which I hid up my sleeve." - -So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared -and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs. -The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it -was fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. -They opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like -those which had so much astounded them the month before. - -"How simple!" said Richard. - -"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes -fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her. - -"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to -substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost -who told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?" - -"Yes, it was the ghost." - -"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? -Here is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing." - -"As you please, gentlemen." - -Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside -it and made for the door. She was on the point of going -out when the two managers rushed at her: - -"Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be `done' a second time! -Once bitten, twice shy!" - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse, -"you told me to act as though you knew nothing....Well, -if you knew nothing, I should go away with your envelope!" - -"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, -whom Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on -Mme. Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Mon-MME. GIRY' -charmin was prepared to go to any length to discover the truth. - -"I am to slip it into your pocket when you least expect it, sir. -You know that I always take a little turn behind the scenes, -in the course of the evening, and I often go with my daughter -to the ballet-foyer, which I am entitled to do, as her mother; -I bring her her shoes, when the ballet is about to begin...in fact, -I come and go as I please....The subscribers come and go too. -... So do you, sir....There are lots of people about... -I go behind you and slip the envelope into the tail-pocket of your -dress-coat....There's no witchcraft about that!" - -"No witchcraft!" growled Richard, rolling his eyes like Jupiter Tonans. -"No witchcraft! Why, I've just caught you in a lie, you old witch!" - -Mme. Giry bristled, with her three teeth sticking out of her mouth. - -"And why, may I ask?" - -"Because I spent that evening watching Box Five and the sham envelope -which you put there. I did not go to the ballet-foyer for a second." - -"No, sir, and I did not give you the envelope that evening, but at -the next performance...on the evening when the under-secretary -of state for fine arts..." - -At these words, M. Richard suddenly interrupted Mme. Giry: - -"Yes, that's true, I remember now! The under-secretary went behind -the scenes. He asked for me. I went down to the ballet-foyer -for a moment. I was on the foyer steps....The under-secretary -and his chief clerk were in the foyer itself. I suddenly turned -around...you had passed behind me, Mme. Giry... You seemed -to push against me....Oh, I can see you still, I can see you still!" - -"Yes, that's it, sir, that's it. I had just finished my little business. -That pocket of yours, sir, is very handy!" - -And Mme. Giry once more suited the action to the word, She passed -behind M. Richard and, so nimbly that Moncharmin himself was impressed -by it, slipped the envelope into the pocket of one of the tails -of M. Richard's dress-coat. - -"Of course!" exclaimed Richard, looking a little pale. "It's very -clever of O. G. The problem which he had to solve was this: -how to do away with any dangerous intermediary between the man -who gives the twenty-thousand francs and the man who receives it. -And by far the best thing he could hit upon was to come and take -the money from my pocket without my noticing it, as I myself did not -know that it was there. It's wonderful!" - -"Oh, wonderful, no doubt!" Moncharmin agreed. "Only, you forget, -Richard, that I provided ten-thousand francs of the twenty -and that nobody put anything in my pocket!" - - - -Chapter XVII The Safety-Pin Again - - -Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which he -now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, -at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all -Moncharmin's wishes, with the object of helping him to discover -the miscreant who was victimizing them. - -This brings us to the interval after the Garden Act, with the strange -conduct observed by M. Remy and those curious lapses from the dignity -that might be expected of the managers. It was arranged between -Richard and Moncharmin, first, that Richard should repeat the exact -movements which he had made on the night of the disappearance -of the first twenty-thousand francs; and, second, that Moncharmin -should not for an instant lose sight of Richard's coat-tail pocket, -into which Mme. Giry was to slip the twenty-thousand francs. - -M. Richard went and placed himself at the identical spot where he -had stood when he bowed to the under-secretary for fine arts. -M. Moncharmin took up his position a few steps behind him. - -Mme. Giry passed, rubbed up against M. Richard, got rid of her -twenty-thousand francs in the manager's coat-tail pocket -and disappeared....Or rather she was conjured away. -In accordance with the instructions received from Moncharmin a few -minutes earlier, Mercier took the good lady to the acting-manager's -office and turned the key on her, thus making it impossible -for her to communicate with her ghost. - -Meanwhile, M. Richard was bending and bowing and scraping and -walking backward, just as if he had that high and mighty minister, -the under-secretary for fine arts, before him. Only, though these -marks of politeness would have created no astonishment if the -under-secretary of state had really been in front of M. Richard, -they caused an easily comprehensible amazement to the spectators -of this very natural but quite inexplicable scene when M. Richard -had no body in front of him. - -M. Richard bowed...to nobody; bent his back...before nobody; -and walked backward...before nobody....And, a few steps -behind him, M. Moncharmin did the same thing that he was doing -in addition to pushing away M. Remy and begging M. de La Borderie, -the ambassador, and the manager of the Credit Central "not to touch -M. le Directeur." - -Moncharmin, who had his own ideas, did not want Richard to come -to him presently, when the twenty-thousand francs were gone, -and say: - -"Perhaps it was the ambassador...or the manager of the Credit -Central...or Remy." - -The more so as, at the time of the first scene, -as Richard himself admitted, Richard had met nobody -in that part of the theater after Mme. Giry had brushed up against him. ... - -Having begun by walking backward in order to bow, Richard continued -to do so from prudence, until he reached the passage leading -to the offices of the management. In this way, he was constantly -watched by Moncharmin from behind and himself kept an eye on any -one approaching from the front. Once more, this novel method -of walking behind the scenes, adopted by the managers of our -National Academy of Music, attracted attention; but the managers -themselves thought of nothing but their twenty-thousand francs. - -On reaching the half-dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin, -in a low voice: - -"I am sure that nobody has touched me....You had now better -keep at some distance from me and watch me till I come to door -of the office: it is better not to arouse suspicion and we can -see anything that happens." - -But Moncharmin replied. "No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I'll -walk immediately behind you! I won't leave you by a step!" - -"But, in that case," exclaimed Richard, "they will never steal -our twenty-thousand francs!" - -"I should hope not, indeed!" declared Moncharmin. - -"Then what we are doing is absurd!" - -"We are doing exactly what we did last time....Last time, -I joined you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind -you down this passage." - -"That's true!" sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively -obeying Moncharmin. - -Two minutes later, the joint managers locked themselves into -their office. Moncharmin himself put the key in his pocket: - -"We remained locked up like this, last time," he said, "until you -left the Opera to go home." - -"That's so. No one came and disturbed us, I suppose?" - -"No one." - -"Then," said Richard, who was trying to collect his memory, "then I -must certainly have been robbed on my way home from the Opera." - -"No," said Moncharmin in a drier tone than ever, "no, that's impossible. -For I dropped you in my cab. The twenty-thousand francs disappeared -at your place: there's not a shadow of a doubt about that." - -"It's incredible!" protested Richard. "I am sure of my servants... -and if one of them had done it, he would have disappeared since." - -Moncharmin shrugged his shoulders, as though to say that he -did not wish to enter into details, and Richard began to think -that Moncharmin was treating him in a very insupportable fashion. - -"Moncharmin, I've had enough of this!" - -"Richard, I've had too much of it!" - -"Do you dare to suspect me?" - -"Yes, of a silly joke." - -"One doesn't joke with twenty-thousand francs." - -"That's what I think," declared Mohcharmin, unfolding a newspaper -and ostentatiously studying its contents. - -"What are you doing?" asked Richard. "Are you going to read -the paper next?" - -"Yes, Richard, until I take you home." - -"Like last time?" - -"Yes, like last time." - -Richard snatched the paper from Moncharmint's hands. -Moncharmin stood up, more irritated than ever, and found himself -faced by an exasperated Richard, who, crossing his arms on his chest, said: - -"Look here, I'm thinking of this, I'M THINKING OF WHAT I MIGHT -THINK if, like last time, after my spending the evening alone -with you, you brought me home and if, at the moment of parting, -I perceived that twenty-thousand francs had disappeared from my -coat-pocket...like last time." - -"And what might you think?" asked Moncharmin, crimson with rage. - -"I might think that, as you hadn't left me by a foot's breadth -and as, by your own wish, you were the only one to approach me, -like last time, I might think that, if that twenty-thousand francs -was no longer in my pocket, it stood a very good chance of being -in yours!" - -Moncharmin leaped up at the suggestion. - -"Oh!" he shouted. "A safety-pin!" - -"What do you want a safety-pin for?" - -"To fasten you up with!...A safety-pin!...A safety-pin!" - -"You want to fasten me with a safety-pin?" - -"Yes, to fasten you to the twenty-thousand francs! Then, whether -it's here, or on the drive from here to your place, or at your place, -you will feel the hand that pulls at your pocket and you will -see if it's mine! Oh, so you're suspecting me now, are you? -A safety-pin!" - -And that was the moment when Moncharmin opened the door -on the passage and shouted: - -"A safety-pin!...somebody give me a safety-pin!" - -And we also know how, at the same moment, Remy, who had no safety-pin, -was received by Moncharmin, while a boy procured the pin so eagerly -longed for. And what happened was this: Moncharmin first locked -the door again. Then he knelt down behind Richard's back. - -"I hope," he said, "that the notes are still there?" - -"So do I," said Richard. - -"The real ones?" asked Moncharmin, resolved not to be "had" this time. - -"Look for yourself," said Richard. "I refuse to touch them." - -Moncharmin took the envelope from Richard's pocket and drew -out the bank-notes with a trembling hand, for, this time, -in order frequently to make sure of the presence of the notes, -he had not sealed the envelope nor even fastened it. He felt -reassured on finding that they were all there and quite genuine. -He put them back in the tail-pocket and pinned them with great care. -Then he sat down behind Richard's coat-tails and kept his eyes -fixed on them, while Richard, sitting at his writing-table, did -not stir. - -"A little patience, Richard," said Moncharmin. "We have only -a few minutes to wait....The clock will soon strike twelve. -Last time, we left at the last stroke of twelve." - -"Oh, I shall have all the patience necessary!" - -The time passed, slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling. Richard tried -to laugh. - -"I shall end by believing in the omnipotence of the ghost," he said. -"Just now, don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, -alarming in the atmosphere of this room?" - -"You're quite right," said Moncharmin, who was really impressed. - -"The ghost!" continued Richard, in a low voice, as though fearing lest -he should be overheard by invisible ears. "The ghost! Suppose, all -the same, it were a ghost who puts the magic envelopes on the table -... who talks in Box Five...who killed Joseph Buquet... -who unhooked the chandelier...and who robs us! For, after all, -after all, after all, there is no one here except you and me, -and, if the notes disappear and neither you nor I have anything to -do with it, well, we shall have to believe in the ghost...in the ghost." - -At that moment, the clock on the mantlepiece gave its warning click -and the first stroke of twelve struck. - -The two managers shuddered. The perspiration streamed from -their foreheads. The twelfth stroke sounded strangely in their ears. - -When the clock stopped, they gave a sigh and rose from their chairs. - -"I think we can go now," said Moncharmin. - -"I think so," Richard a agreed. - -"Before we go, do you mind if I look in your pocket?" - -"But, of course, Moncharmin, YOU MUST!...Well?" he asked, -as Moncharmin was feeling at the pocket. - -"Well, I can feel the pin." - -"Of course, as you said, we can't be robbed without noticing it." - -But Moncharmin, whose hands were still fumbling, bellowed: - -"I can feel the pin, but I can't feel the notes!" - -"Come, no joking, Moncharmin!...This isn't the time for it." - -"Well, feel for yourseIf." - -Richard tore off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket -inside out. THE POCKET WAS EMPTY. And the curious thing was -that the pin remained, stuck in the same place. - -Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt -about the witchcraft. - -"The ghost!" muttered Moncharmin. - -But Richard suddenly sprang upon his partner. - -"No one but you has touched my pocket! Give me back my twenty-thousand -francs!...Give me back my twenty-thousand francs!..." - -"On my soul," sighed Moncharmin, who was ready to swoon, "on my soul, -I swear that I haven't got it!" - -Then somebody knocked at the door. Moncharmin opened it automatically, -seemed hardly to recognize Mercier, his business-manager, exchanged -a few words with him, without knowing what he was saying and, -with an unconscious movement, put the safety-pin, for which he -had no further use, into the hands of his bewildered subordinate.... - - - -Chapter XVIII The Commissary, The Viscount and the Persian - - -The first words of the commissary of police, on entering -the managers' office, were to ask after the missing prima donna. - -"Is Christine Daae here?" - -"Christine Daae here?" echoed Richard. "No. Why?" - -As for Moncharmin, he had not the strength left to utter a word. - -Richard repeated, for the commissary and the compact crowd which -had followed him into the office observed an impressive silence. - -"Why do you ask if Christine Daae is here, M. LE COMMISSAIRE?" - -"Because she has to be found,", declared the commissary of police solemnly. - -"What do you mean, she has to be found? Has she disappeared?" - -"In the middle of the performance!" - -"In the middle of the performance? This is extraordinary!" - -"Isn't it? And what is quite as extraordinary is that you should -first learn it from me!" - -"Yes," said Richard, taking his head in his hands and muttering. -"What is this new business? Oh, it's enough to make a man send in -his resignation!" - -And he pulled a few hairs out of his mustache without even knowing -what he was doing. - -"So she...so she disappeared in the middle of the performance?" -he repeated. - -"Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act, at the moment when she -was invoking the aid of the angels; but I doubt if she was carried -off by an angel." - -"And I am sure that she was!" - -Everybody looked round. A young man, pale and trembling -with excitement, repeated: - -"I am sure of it!" - -"Sure of what?" asked Mifroid. - -"That Christine Daae' was carried off by an angel, M. LE COMMISSAIRE -and I can tell you his name." - -"Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae -was carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?" - -"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you -where he lives...when we are alone." - -"You are right, monsieur." - -And the commissary of police, inviting Raoul to take a chair, -cleared the room of all the rest, excepting the managers. - -Then Raoul spoke: - -"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera -and he is the Angel of Music!" - -"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious!...The -Angel of Music!" And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, -"Have you an Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?" - -Richard and Moncharmin shook their heads, without even speaking. - -"Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera ghost. -Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the Angel -of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik." - -M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively. - -"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun -of the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?" - -"I say that these gentlemen have heard of him." - -"Gentlemen, it appears that you know the Opera ghost?" - -Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand. - -"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did, -for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!" - -And Richard turned a terrible look on Moncharmin, which seemed -to say: - -"Give me back the twenty-thousand francs, or I'll tell the whole story." - -Moncharmin understood what he meant, for, with a distracted gesture, -he said: - -"Oh, tell everything and have done with it!" - -As for Mifroid, he looked at the managers and at Raoul by turns -and wondered whether he had strayed into a lunatic asylum. -He passed his hand through his hair. - -"A ghost," he said, "who, on the same evening, carries off -an opera-singer and steals twenty-thousand francs is a ghost who -must have his hands very full! If you don't mind, we will take -the questions in order. The singer first, the twenty-thousand -francs after. Come, M. de Chagny, let us try to talk seriously. -You believe that Mlle. Christine Daae has been carried off by an -individual called Erik. Do you know this person? Have you seen him?" - -"Yes." - -"Where?" - -"In a church yard." - -M. Mifroid gave a start, began to scrutinize Raoul again and said: - -"Of course!...That's where ghosts usually hang out!...And -what were you doing in that churchyard?" - -"Monsieur," said Raoul, "I can quite understand how absurd my replies -must seem to you. But I beg you to believe that I am in full -possession of my faculties. The safety of the person dearest -to me in the world is at stake. I should like to convince you -in a few words, for time is pressing and every minute is valuable. -Unfortunately, if I do not tell you the strangest story that ever -was from the beginning, you will not believe me. I will tell you all -I know about the Opera ghost, M. Commissary. Alas, I do not know much!..." - -"Never mind, go on, go on!" exclaimed Richard and Moncharmin, -suddenly greatly interested. - -Unfortunately for their hopes of learning some detail that could put -them on the track of their hoaxer, they were soon compelled to accept -the fact that M. Raoul de Chagny had completely lost his head. -All that story about Perros-Guirec, death's heads and enchanted violins, -could only have taken birth in the disordered brain of a youth -mad with love. It was evident, also, that Mr. Commissary Mifroid -shared their view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut -short the incoherent narrative if circumstances had not taken -it upon themselves to interrupt it. - -The door opened and a man entered, curiously dressed in an enormous -frock-coat and a tall hat, at once shabby and shiny, that came down to -his ears. He went up to the commissary and spoke to him in a whisper. -It was doubtless a detective come to deliver an important communication. - -During this conversation, M. Mifroid did not take his eyes off Raoul. -At last, addressing him, he said: - -"Monsieur, we have talked enough about the ghost. We will -now talk about yourself a little, if you have no objection: -you were to carry off Mlle. Christine Daae to-night?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"After the performance?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"All your arrangements were made?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"The carriage that brought you was to take you both away. -... There were fresh horses in readiness at every stage. -..." - -"That is true, M. le Commissaire." - -"And nevertheless your carriage is still outside the Rotunda -awaiting your orders, is it not?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"Did you know that there were three other carriages there, -in addition to yours?" - -"I did not pay the least attention." - -"They were the carriages of Mlle. Sorelli, which could not find room -in the Cour de l'Administration; of Carlotta; and of your brother, -M. le Comte de Chagny. ..." - -"Very likely. ..." - -"What is certain is that, though your carriage and Sorelli's -and Carlotta's are still there, by the Rotunda pavement, M. le -Comte de Chagny's carriage is gone." - -"This has nothing to say to..." - -"I beg your pardon. Was not M. le Comte opposed to your marriage -with Mlle. Daae?" - -"That is a matter that only concerns the family." - -"You have answered my question: he was opposed to it...and that -was why you were carrying Christine Daae out of your brother's reach. -... Well, M. de Chagny, allow me to inform you that your brother has -been smarter than you! It is he who has carried off Christine Daae!" - -"Oh, impossible!" moaned Raoul, pressing his hand to his heart. -"Are you sure?" - -"Immediately after the artist's disappearance, which was procured -by means which we have still to ascertain, he flung into his carriage, -which drove right across Paris at a furious pace." - -"Across Paris?" asked poor Raoul, in a hoarse voice. "What do you -mean by across Paris?" - -"Across Paris and out of Paris...by the Brussels road." - -"Oh," cried the young man, "I shall catch them!" And he rushed -out of the office. - -"And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily...."Ah, -that's a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!" - -And, turning to his audience, M. Mifroid delivered a little lecture -on police methods. - -"I don't know for a moment whether M. le Comte de Chagny has really -carried Christine Daae off or not...but I want to know and I -believe that, at this moment, no one is more anxious to inform us -than his brother....And now he is flying in pursuit of him! -He is my chief auxiliary! This, gentlemen, is the art of the police, -which is believed to be so complicated and which, nevertheless appears -so simple as soon its you see that it consists in getting your work -done by people who have nothing to do with the police." - -But M. le Commissaire de Police Mifroid would not have been quite -so satisfied with himself if he had known that the rush of his rapid -emissary was stopped at the entrance to the very first corridor. -A tall figure blocked Raoul's way. - -"Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice. - -Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap -of an hour ago. He stopped: - -"It's you!" he cried, in a feverish voice. "You, who know Erik's -secrets and don't want me to speak of them. Who are you?" - -"You know who I am!...I am the Persian!" - - - -Chapter XIX The Viscount and the Persian - - -Raoul now remembered that his brother had once shown him that -mysterious person, of whom nothing was known except that he was a Persian -and that he lived in a little old-fashioned flat in the Rue de Rivoli. - -The man with the ebony skin, the eyes of jade and the astrakhan -cap bent over Raoul. - -"I hope, M. de Chagny," he said, "that you have not betrayed -Erik's secret?" - -"And why should I hesitate to betray that monster, sir?" -Raoul rejoined haughtily, trying to shake off the intruder. -"Is he your friend, by any chance?" - -"I hope that you said, nothing about Erik, sir, because Erik's -secret is also Christine Daae's and to talk about one is to talk -about the other!" - -"Oh, sir," said Raoul, becoming more and more impatient, "you seem -to know about many things that interest me; and yet I have no time -to listen to you!" - -"Once more, M. de Chagny, where are you going so fast?" - -"Can not you guess? To Christine Daae's assistance. ..." - -"Then, sir, stay here, for Christine Daae is here!" - -"With Erik?" - -"With Erik." - -"How do you know?" - -"I was at the performance and no one in the world but Erik could -contrive an abduction like that!...Oh," he said, with a deep sigh, -"I recognized the monster's touch!..." - -"You know him then?" - -The Persian did not reply, but heaved a fresh sigh. - -"Sir," said Raoul, "I do not know what your intentions are, but can -you do anything to help me? I mean, to help Christine Daae?" - -"I think so, M. de Chagny, and that is why I spoke to you." - -"What can you do?" - -"Try to take you to her...and to him." - -"If you can do me that service, sir, my life is yours!...One -word more: the commissary of police tells me that Christine Daae -has been carried off by my brother, Count Philippe." - -"Oh, M. de Chagny, I don't believe a word of it." - -"It's not possible, is it?" - -"I don't know if it is possible or not; but there are ways and -ways of carrying people off; and M. le Comte Philippe has never, -as far as I know, had anything to do with witchcraft." - -"Your arguments are convincing, sir, and I am a fool!...Oh, -let us make haste! I place myself entirely in your hands!... -How should I not believe you, when you are the only one to believe -me...when you are the only one not to smile when Erik's name -is mentioned?" - -And the young man impetuously seized the Persian's hands. -They were ice-cold. - -"Silence!" said the Persian, stopping and listening to the distant -sounds of the theater. "We must not mention that name here. -Let us say `he' and `him;' then there will be less danger of attracting -his attention." - -"Do you think he is near us?" - -"It is quite possible, Sir, if he is not, at this moment, -with his victim, IN THE HOUSE ON THE LAKE." - -"Ah, so you know that house too?" - -"If he is not there, he may be here, in this wall, in this floor, -in this ceiling!...Come!" - -And the Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of his footsteps, -led him down passages which Raoul had never seen before, even at the -time when Christine used to take him for walks through that labyrinth. - -"If only Darius has come!" said the Persian. - -"Who is Darius?" - -"Darius? My servant." - -They were now in the center of a real deserted square, an immense -apartment ill-lit by a small lamp. The Persian stopped Raoul and, -in the softest of whispers, asked: - -"What did you say to the commissary?" - -"I said that Christine Daae's abductor was the Angel of Music, -ALIAS the Opera ghost, and that the real name was..." - -"Hush!...And did he believe you?" - -"No." - -"He attached no importance to what you said?" - -"No." - -"He took you for a bit of a madman?" - -"Yes." - -"So much the better!" sighed the Persian. - -And they continued their road. After going up and down several -staircases which Raoul had never seen before, the two men -found themselves in front of a door which the Persian opened -with a master-key. The Persian and Raoul were both, of course, -in dress-clothes; but, whereas Raoul had a tall hat, the Persian -wore the astrakhan cap which I have already mentioned. It was -an infringement of the rule which insists upon the tall hat behind -the scenes; but in France foreigners are allowed every license: -the Englishman his traveling-cap, the Persian his cap of astrakhan. - -"Sir," said the Persian, "your tall hat will be in your way: -you would do well to leave it in the dressing-room." - -"What dressing-room?" asked Raoul. - -"Christine Daae's." - -And the Persian, letting Raoul through the door which he -had just opened, showed him the actress' room opposite. -They were at the end of the passage the whole length of which Raoul -had been accustomed to traverse before knocking at Christine's door. - -"How well you know the Opera, sir!" - -"Not so well as `he' does!" said the Persian modestly. - -And he pushed the young man into Christine's dressing-room, -which was as Raoul had left it a few minutes earlier. - -Closing the door, the Persian went to a very thin partition that -separated the dressing-room from a big lumber-room next to it. -He listened and then coughed loudly. - -There was a sound of some one stirring in the lumber-room; and, a few -seconds later, a finger tapped at the door. - -"Come in," said the Persian. - -A man entered, also wearing an astrakhan cap and dressed in a long -overcoat. He bowed and took a richly carved case from under his coat, -put it on the dressing-table, bowed once again and went to the door. - -"Did no one see you come in, Darius?" - -"No, master." - -"Let no one see you go out." - -The servant glanced down the passage and swiftly disappeared. - -The Persian opened the case. It contained a pair of long pistols. - -"When Christine Daae was carried off, sir, I sent word to my servant -to bring me these pistols. I have had them a long time and they -can be relied upon." - -"Do you mean to fight a duel?" asked the young man. - -"It will certainly be a duel which we shall have to fight," -said the other, examining the priming of his pistols. "And what a duel!" -Handing one of the pistols to Raoul, he added, "In this duel, -we shall be two to one; but you must be prepared for everything, -for we shall be fighting the most terrible adversary that you -can imagine. But you love Christine Daae, do you not?" - -"I worship the ground she stands on! But you, sir, who do not -love her, tell me why I find you ready to risk your life for her! -You must certainly hate Erik!" - -"No, sir," said the Persian sadly, "I do not hate him. If I hated him, -he would long ago have ceased doing harm." - -"Has he done you harm?" - -"I have forgiven him the harm which he has done me." - -"I do not understand you. You treat him as a monster, you speak -of his crime, he has done you harm and I find in you the same -inexplicable pity that drove me to despair when I saw it in Christine!" - -The Persian did not reply. He fetched a stool and set it -against the wall facing the great mirror that filled the whole -of the wall-space opposite. Then he climbed on the stool and, -with his nose to the wallpaper, seemed to be looking for something. - -"Ah," he said, after a long search, "I have it!" And, raising his -finger above his head, he pressed against a corner in the pattern -of the paper. Then he turned round and jumped off the stool: - -"In half a minute," he said, "he shall be ON HIS ROAD!" and crossing -the whole of the dressing-room he felt the great mirror. - -"No, it is not yielding yet," he muttered. - -"Oh, are we going out by the mirror?" asked Raoul. "Like Christine Daae." - -"So you knew that Christine Daae went out by that mirror?" - -"She did so before my eyes, sir! I was hidden behind the curtain -of the inner room and I saw her vanish not by the glass, but in -the glass!" - -"And what did you do?" - -"I thought it was an aberration of my senses, a mad dream. - -"Or some new fancy of the ghost's!" chuckled the Persian. -"Ah, M. de Chagny," he continued, still with his hand on the mirror, -"would that we had to do with a ghost! We could then leave our pistols -in their case....Put down your hat, please...there... -and now cover your shirt-front as much as you can with your coat... -as I am doing....Bring the lapels forward...turn up -the collar....We must make ourselves as invisible as possible." - -Bearing against the mirror, after a short silence, he said: - -"It takes some time to release the counterbalance, when you press -on the spring from the inside of the room. It is different when you -are behind the wall and can act directly on the counterbalance. -Then the mirror turns at once and is moved with incredible rapidity." - -"What counterbalance?" asked Raoul. - -"Why, the counterbalance that lifts the whole of this wall on -to its pivot. You surely don't expect it to move of itself, -by enchantment! If you watch, you will see the mirror first rise -an inch or two and then shift an inch or two from left to right. -It will then be on a pivot and will swing round." - -"It's not turning!" said Raoul impatiently. - -"Oh, wait! You have time enough to be impatient, sir! The mechanism -has obviously become rusty, or else the spring isn't working. -...Unless it is something else," added the Persian, anxiously. - -"What?" - -"He may simply have cut the cord of the counterbalance and blocked -the whole apparatus." - -"Why should he? He does not know that we are coming this way!" - -"I dare say he suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system." - -"It's not turning!...And Christine, sir, Christine?" - -The Persian said coldly: - -"We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do!...But -he may stop us at the first step!...He commands the walls, -the doors and the trapdoors. In my country, he was known by a name -which means the `trap-door lover.'" - -"But why do these walls obey him alone? He did not build them!" - -"Yes, sir, that is just what he did!" - -Raoul looked at him in amazement; but the Persian made a sign to him -to be silent and pointed to the glass....There was a sort -of shivering reflection. Their image was troubled as in a rippling -sheet of water and then all became stationary again. - -"You see, sir, that it is not turning! Let us take another road!" - -"To-night, there is no other!" declared the Persian, in a singularly -mournful voice. "And now, look out! And be ready to fire." - -He himself raised his pistol opposite the glass. Raoul imitated -his movement. With his free arm, the Persian drew the young man -to his chest and, suddenly, the mirror turned, in a blinding daze -of cross-lights: it turned like one of those revolving doors -which have lately been fixed to the entrances of most restaurants, -it turned, carrying Raoul and the Persian with it and suddenly -hurling them from the full light into the deepest darkness. - - - -Chapter XX In the Cellars of the Opera - - -"Your hand high, ready to fire!" repeated Raoul's companion quickly. - -The wall, behind them, having completed the circle which it -described upon itself, closed again; and the two men stood -motionless for a moment, holding their breath. - -At last, the Persian decided to make a movement; and Raoul heard -him slip on his knees and feel for something in the dark with his -groping hands. Suddenly, the darkness was made visible by a small dark -lantern and Raoul instinctively stepped backward as though to escape -the scrutiny of a secret enemy. But he soon perceived that the light -belonged to the Persian, whose movements he was closely observing. -The little red disk was turned in every direction and Raoul -saw that the floor, the walls and the ceiling were all formed -of planking. It must have been the ordinary road taken by Erik -to reach Christine's dressing-room and impose upon her innocence. -And Raoul, remembering the Persian's remark, thought that it had been -mysteriously constructed by the ghost himself. Later, he learned -that Erik had found, all prepared for him, a secret passage, -long known to himself alone and contrived at the time of the Paris -Commune to allow the jailers to convey their prisoners straight -to the dungeons that had been constructed for them in the cellars; -for the Federates had occupied the opera-house immediately after -the eighteenth of March and had made a starting-place right at -the top for their Mongolfier balloons, which carried their incendiary -proclamations to the departments, and a state prison right at the bottom. - -The Persian went on his knees and put his lantern on the ground. -He seemed to be working at the floor; and suddenly he turned off -his light. Then Raoul heard a faint click and saw a very pale -luminous square in the floor of the passage. It was as though -a window had opened on the Opera cellars, which were still lit. -Raoul no longer saw the Persian, but he suddenly felt him by his side -and heard him whisper: - -"Follow me and do all that I do." - -Raoul turned to the luminous aperture. Then he saw the Persian, -who was still on his knees, hang by his hands from the rim of the opening, -with his pistol between his teeth, and slide into the cellar below. - -Curiously enough, the viscount had absolute confidence in the Persian, -though he knew nothing about him. His emotion when speaking of the -"monster" struck him as sincere; and, if the Persian had cherished -any sinister designs against him, he would not have armed him with -his own hands. Besides, Raoul must reach Christine at all costs. -He therefore went on his knees also and hung from the trap with both hands. - -"Let go!" said a voice. - -And he dropped into the arms of the Persian, who told him to lie -down flat, closed the trap-door above him and crouched down beside him. -Raoul tried to ask a question, but the Persian's hand was on his mouth -and he heard a voice which he recognized as that of the commissary -of police. - -Raoul and the Persian were completely hidden behind a wooden partition. -Near them, a small staircase led to a little room in which the -commissary appeared to be walking up and down, asking questions. -The faint light was just enough to enable Raoul to distinguish the -shape of things around him. And he could not restrain a dull cry: -there were three corpses there. - -The first lay on the narrow landing of the little staircase; -the two others had rolled to the bottom of the staircase. -Raoul could have touched one of the two poor wretches by passing -his fingers through the partition. - -"Silence!" whispered the Persian. - -He too had seen the bodies and he gave one word in explanation: - -"HE!" - -The commissary's voice was now heard more distinctly. -He was asking for information about the system of lighting, -which the stage-manager supplied. The commissary therefore -must be in the "organ" or its immediate neighborhood. - -Contrary to what one might think, especially in connection with an -opera-house, the "organ" is not a musical instrument. At that time, -electricity was employed only for a very few scenic effects and for -the bells. The immense building and the stage itself were still -lit by gas; hydrogen was used to regulate and modify the lighting -of a scene; and this was done by means of a special apparatus which, -because of the multiplicity of its pipes, was known as the "organ." -A box beside the prompter's box was reserved for the chief gas-man, -who from there gave his orders to his assistants and saw that they -were executed. Mauclair stayed in this box during all the performances. - -But now Mauclair was not in his box and his assistants not -in their places. - -"Mauclair! Mauclair!" - -The stage-manager's voice echoed through the cellars. But Mauclair -did not reply. - -I have said that a door opened on a little staircase that led -to the second cellar. The commissary pushed it, but it resisted. - -"I say," he said to the stage-manager, "I can't open this door: -is it always so difficult?" - -The stage-manager forced it open with his shoulder. He saw that, -at the same time, he was pushing a human body and he could not keep -back an exclamation, for he recognized the body at once: - -"Mauclair! Poor devil! He is dead!" - -But Mr. Commissary Mifroid, whom nothing surprised, was stooping -over that big body. - -"No," he said, "he is dead-drunk, which is not quite the same thing." - -"It's the first time, if so," said the stage-manager - -"Then some one has given him a narcotic. That is quite possible." - -Mifroid went down a few steps and said: - -"Look!" - -By the light of a little red lantern, at the foot of the stairs, -they saw two other bodies. The stage-manager recognized Mauclair's -assistants. Mifroid went down and listened to their breathing. - -"They are sound asleep," he said. "Very curious business! -Some person unknown must have interfered with the gas-man and his -staff...and that person unknown was obviously working on behalf -of the kidnapper....But what a funny idea to kidnap a performer -on the stage!...Send for the doctor of the theater, please." -And Mifroid repeated, "Curious, decidedly curious business!" - -Then he turned to the little room, addressing the people whom Raoul -and the Persian were unable to see from where they lay. - -"What do you say to all this, gentlemen? You are the only ones -who have not given your views. And yet you must have an opinion -of some sort." - -Thereupon, Raoul and the Persian saw the startled faces of the joint -managers appear above the landing--and they heard Moncharmin's -excited voice: - -"There are things happening here, Mr. Commissary, which we are -unable to explain." - -And the two faces disappeared. - -"Thank you for the information, gentlemen," said Mifroid, with a jeer. - -But the stage-manager, holding his chin in the hollow of his -right hand, which is the attitude of profound thought, said: - -"It is not the first time that Mauclair has fallen asleep in the theater. -I remember finding him, one evening, snoring in his little recess, -with his snuff-box beside him." - -"Is that long ago?" asked M. Mifroid, carefully wiping his eye-glasses. - -"No, not so very long ago....Wait a bit!...It was the night -... of course, yes...It was the night when Carlotta--you know, -Mr. Commissary--gave her famous `co-ack'!" - -"Really? The night when Carlotta gave her famous `co-ack'?" - -And M. Mifroid, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose, -fixed the stage-manager with a contemplative stare. - -"So Mauclair takes snuff, does he?" he asked carelessly. - -"`Yes, Mr. Commissary....Look, there is his snuff-box -on that little shelf....Oh! he's a great snuff-taker!" - -"So am I," said Mifroid and put the snuff-box in his pocket. - -Raoul and the Persian, themselves unobserved, watched the removal -of the three bodies by a number of scene-shifters, who were -followed by the commissary and all the people with him. -Their steps were heard for a few minutes on the stage above. -When they were alone the Persian made a sign to Raoul to stand up. -Raoul did so; but, as he did not lift his hand in front of his eyes, -ready to fire, the Persian told him to resume that attitude and to -continue it, whatever happened. - -"But it tires the hand unnecessarily," whispered Raoul. "If I -do fire, I shan't be sure of my aim." - -"Then shift your pistol to the other hand," said the Persian. - -"I can't shoot with my left hand." - -Thereupon, the Persian made this queer reply, which was certainly -not calculated to throw light into the young man's flurried brain: - -"It's not a question of shooting with the right hand or the left; -it's a question of holding one of your hands as though you -were going to pull the trigger of a pistol with your arm bent. -As for the pistol itself, when all is said, you can put that in -your pocket!" And he added, "Let this be clearly understood, -or I will answer for nothing. It is a matter of life and death. -And now, silence and follow me!" - -The cellars of the Opera are enormous and they are five in number. -Raoul followed the Persian and wondered what he would have done -without his companion in that extraordinary labyrinth. They went -down to the third cellar; and their progress was still lit by some -distant lamp. - -The lower they went, the more precautions the Persian seemed to take. -He kept on turning to Raoul to see if he was holding his arm properly, -showing him how he himself carried his hand as if always ready to fire, -though the pistol was in his pocket. - -Suddenly, a loud voice made them stop. Some one above them shouted: - -"All the door-shutters on the stage! The commissary of police -wants them!" - -Steps were heard and shadows glided through the darkness. The Persian -drew Raoul behind a set piece. They saw passing before and above -them old men bent by age and the past burden of opera-scenery. -Some could hardly drag themselves along; others, from habit, -with stooping bodies and outstretched hands, looked for doors to shut. - -They were the door-shutters, the old, worn-out scene-shifters, on -whom a charitable management had taken pity, giving them the job -of shutting doors above and below the stage. They went about -incessantly, from top to bottom of the building, shutting the doors; -and they were also called "The draft-expellers," at least at -that time, for I have little doubt that by now they are all dead. -Drafts are very bad for the voice, wherever they may come from.[3] - ----- -[3] M. Pedro Gailhard has himself told me that he created a few -additional posts as door-shutters for old stage-carpenters whom -he was unwilling to dismiss from the service of the Opera. - -The two men might have stumbled over them, waking them up and -provoking a request for explanations. For the moment, M. Mifroid's -inquiry saved them from any such unpleasant encounters. - -The Persian and Raoul welcomed this incident, which relieved them -of inconvenient witnesses, for some of those door-shutters, having -nothing else to do or nowhere to lay their heads, stayed at the Opera, -from idleness or necessity, and spent the night there. - -But they were not left to enjoy their solitude for long. Other shades -now came down by the same way by which the door-shutters had gone up. -Each of these shades carried a little lantern and moved it about, -above, below and all around, as though looking for something or somebody. - -"Hang it!" muttered the Persian. "I don't know what they are -looking for, but they might easily find us....Let us get away, -quick!...Your hand up, sir, ready to fire!...Bend your arm -... more...that's it!...Hand at the level of your eye, -as though you were fighting a duel and waiting for the word -to fire! Oh, leave your pistol in your pocket. Quick, come along, -down-stairs. Level of your eye! Question of life or death!... -Here, this way, these stairs!" They reached the fifth cellar. -"Oh, what a duel, sir, what a duel!" - -Once in the fifth cellar, the Persian drew breath. He seemed -to enjoy a rather greater sense of security than he had displayed -when they both stopped in the third; but he never altered the attitude -of his hand. And Raoul, remembering the Persian's observation--"I -know these pistols can be relied upon"--was more and more astonished, -wondering why any one should be so gratified at being able to rely -upon a pistol which he did not intend to use! - -But the Persian left him no time for reflection. Telling Raoul -to stay where he was, he ran up a few steps of the staircase -which they had just left and then returned. - -"How stupid of us!" he whispered. "We shall soon have seen the end -of those men with their lanterns. It is the firemen going their -rounds."[4] - ----- -[4] In those days, it was still part of the firemen's duty to watch -over the safety of the Opera house outside the performances; -but this service has since been suppressed. I asked M. Pedro -Gailhard the reason, and he replied: -"It was because the management was afraid that, in their utter -inexperience of the cellars of the Opera, the firemen might set -fire to the building!" - - -The two men waited five minutes longer. Then the Persian took Raoul -up the stairs again; but suddenly he stopped him with a gesture. -Something moved in the darkness before them. - -"Flat on your stomach!" whispered the Persian. - -The two men lay flat on the floor. - -They were only just in time. A shade, this time carrying no light, -just a shade in the shade, passed. It passed close to them, -near enough to touch them. - -They felt the warmth of its cloak upon them. For they could -distinguish the shade sufficiently to see that it wore a cloak which -shrouded it from head to foot. On its head it had a soft felt hat.... - -It moved away, drawing its feet against the walls and sometimes -giving a kick into a corner. - -"Whew!" said the Persian. "We've had a narrow escape; that shade -knows me and has twice taken me to the managers' office." - -"Is it some one belonging to the theater police?" asked Raoul. - -"It's some one much worse than that!" replied the Persian, -without giving any further explanation.[5] - ----- -[5] Like the Persian, I can give no further explanation touching -the apparition of this shade. Whereas, in this historic narrative, -everything else will be normally explained, however abnormal -the course of events may seem, I can not give the reader expressly -to understand what the Persian meant by the words, "It is some one -much worse than that!" The reader must try to guess for himself, -for I promised M. Pedro Gailhard, the former manager of the Opera, -to keep his secret regarding the extremely interesting and useful -personality of the wandering, cloaked shade which, while condemning -itself to live in the cellars of the Opera, rendered such immense -services to those who, on gala evenings, for instance, venture to stray -away from the stage. I am speaking of state services; and, upon my -word of honor, I can say no more. - -"It's not...he?" - -"He?...If he does not come behind us, we shall always see his -yellow eyes! That is more or less our safeguard to-night. But he -may come from behind, stealing up; and we are dead men if we do not -keep our hands as though about to fire, at the level of our eyes, -in front!" - -The Persian had hardly finished speaking, when a fantastic face -came in sight...a whole fiery face, not only two yellow eyes! - -Yes, a head of fire came toward them, at a man's height, but with no -body attached to it. The face shed fire, looked in the darkness -like a flame shaped as a man's face. - -"Oh," said the Persian, between his teeth. "I have never seen this -before!...Pampin was not mad, after all: he had seen it!... -What can that flame be? It is not HE, but he may have sent it! -...Take care!...Take care! Your hand at the level of your eyes, -in Heaven's name, at the level of your eyes!...know most of his tricks... -but not this one....Come, let us run....it is safer. -Hand at the level of your eyes!" - -And they fled down the long passage that opened before them. - -After a few seconds, that seemed to them like long minutes, -they stopped. - -"He doesn't often come this way," said the Persian. "This side -has nothing to do with him. This side does not lead to the lake -nor to the house on the lake....But perhaps he knows that we -are at his heels...although I promised him to leave him alone -and never to meddle in his business again!" - -So saying, he turned his head and Raoul also turned his head; -and they again saw the head of fire behind their two heads. -It had followed them. And it must have run also, and perhaps faster -than they, for it seemed to be nearer to them. - -At the same time, they began to perceive a certain noise of which they -could not guess the nature. They simply noticed that the sound -seemed to move and to approach with the fiery face. It was a noise -as though thousands of nails had been scraped against a blackboard, -the perfectly unendurable noise that is sometimes made by a little -stone inside the chalk that grates on the blackboard. - -They continued to retreat, but the fiery face came on, came on, -gaining on them. They could see its features clearly now. The eyes -were round and staring, the nose a little crooked and the mouth large, -with a hanging lower lip, very like the eyes, nose and lip of the moon, -when the moon is quite red, bright red. - -How did that red moon manage to glide through the darkness, -at a man's height, with nothing to support it, at least apparently? -And how did it go so fast, so straight ahead, with such staring, -staring eyes? And what was that scratching, scraping, grating sound -which it brought with it? - -The Persian and Raoul could retreat no farther and flattened -themselves against the wall, not knowing what was going to happen -because of that incomprehensible head of fire, and especially now, -because of the more intense, swarming, living, "numerous" sound, -for the sound was certainly made up of hundreds of little sounds -that moved in the darkness, under the fiery face. - -And the fiery face came on...with its noise...came level -with them!... - -And the two companions, flat against their wall, felt their hair -stand on end with horror, for they now knew what the thousand -noises meant. They came in a troop, hustled along in the shadow -by innumerable little hurried waves, swifter than the waves -that rush over the sands at high tide, little night-waves foaming -under the moon, under the fiery head that was like a moon. -And the little waves passed between their legs, climbing up -their legs, irresistibly, and Raoul and the Persian could no -longer restrain their cries of horror, dismay and pain. Nor could -they continue to hold their hands at the level of their eyes: -their hands went down to their legs to push back the waves, -which were full of little legs and nails and claws and teeth. - -Yes, Raoul and the Persian were ready to faint, like Pampin the fireman. -But the head of fire turned round in answcr to their cries, -and spoke to them: - -"Don't move! Don't move!...Whatever you do, don't come after me! -... I am the rat-catcher!...Let me pass, with my rats!..." - -And the head of fire disappeared, vanished in the darkness, -while the passage in front of it lit up, as the result of the change -which the rat-catcher had made in his dark lantern. Before, so as not -to scare the rats in front of him, he had turned his dark lantern -on himself, lighting up his own head; now, to hasten their flight, -he lit the dark space in front of him. And he jumped along, -dragging with him the waves of scratching rats, all the thousand sounds. - -Raoul and the Persian breathed again, though still trembling. - -"I ought to have remembered that Erik talked to me about the rat-catcher," -said the Persian. "But he never told me that he looked like that... -and it's funny that I should never have met him before.... -Of course, Erik never comes to this part!" - -{two page color illustration} - -"Are we very far from the lake, sir?" asked Raoul. "When shall we -get there?...Take me to the lake, oh, take me to the lake!... -When we are at the lake, we will call out!...Christine will -hear us!...And HE will hear us, too!...And, as you know him, -we shall talk to him!" "Baby!" said the Persian. "We shall never -enter the house on the lake by the lake!...I myself have never -landed on the other bank...the bank on which the house stands. -...You have to cross the lake first...and it is well guarded! -...I fear that more than one of those men--old scene-shifters, -old door-shutters--who have never been seen again were simply tempted -to cross the lake....It is terrible....I myself would have -been nearly killed there...if the monster had not recognized me -in time!...One piece of advice, sir; never go near the lake. -...And, above all, shut your ears if you hear the voice singing -under the water, the siren's voice!" - -"But then, what are we here for?" asked Raoul, in a transport of fever, -impatience and rage. "If you can do nothing for Christine, at least -let me die for her!" The Persian tried to calm the young man. - -"We have only one means of saving Christine Daae, believe me, -which is to enter the house unperceived by the monster." - -"And is there any hope of that, sir?" - -"Ah, if I had not that hope, I would not have come to fetch you!" - -"And how can one enter the house on the lake without crossing -the lake?" - -"From the third cellar, from which we were so unluckily driven away. -We will go back there now....I will tell you," said the Persian, -with a sudden change in his voice, "I will tell you the exact -place, sir: it is between a set piece and a discarded scene from -ROI DE LAHORE, exactly at the spot where Joseph Buquet died. -... Come, sir, take courage and follow me! And hold your hand -at the level of your eyes!...But where are we?" - -The Persian lit his lamp again and flung its rays down two enormous -corridors that crossed each other at right angles. - -"We must be," he said, "in the part used more particularly -for the waterworks. I see no fire coming from the furnaces." - -He went in front of Raoul, seeking his road, stopping abruptly -when he was afraid of meeting some waterman. Then they had to -protect themselves against the glow of a sort of underground forge, -which the men were extinguishing, and at which Raoul recognized -the demons whom Christine had seen at the time of her first captivity. - -In this way, they gradually arrived beneath the huge cellars below -the stage. They must at this time have been at the very bottom -of the "tub" and at an extremely great depth, when we remember -that the earth was dug out at fifty feet below the water that lay -under the whole of that part of Paris.[6] - ----- -[6] All the water had to be exhausted, in the building of the Opera. -To give an idea of the amount of water that was pumped up, I can -tell the reader that it represented the area of the courtyard -of the Louvre and a height half as deep again as the towers of -Notre Dame. And nevertheless the engineers had to leave a lake. - - -The Persian touched a partition-wall and said: - -"If I am not mistaken, this is a wall that might easily belong -to the house on the lake." - -He was striking a partition-wall of the "tub," and perhaps it would be -as well for the reader to know how the bottom and the partition-walls -of the tub were built. In order to prevent the water surrounding -the building-operations from remaining in immediate contact -with the walls supporting the whole of the theatrical machinery, -the architect was obliged to build a double case in every direction. -The work of constructing this double case took a whole year. -It was the wall of the first inner case that the Persian struck -when speaking to Raoul of the house on the lake. To any one -understanding the architecture of the edifice, the Persian's -action would seem to indicate that Erik's mysterious house had -been built in the double case, formed of a thick wall constructed -as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall, a tremendous -layer of cement and another wall several yards in thickness. - -At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against the wall -and listened eagerly. But he heard nothing...nothing -... except distant steps sounding on the floor of the upper - portions of the theater. - -The Persian darkened his lantern again. - -"Look out!" he said. "Keep your hand up! And silence! For we -shall try another way of getting in." - -And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come -down lately. - -They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness -and the silence, till they came to the third cellar. Here the -Persian motioned to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, -crawling on both knees and one hand--for the other hand was held -in the position indicated--they reached the end wall. - -Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE. -Close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set -piece there was just room for a body...for a body which one day -was found hanging there. The body of Joseph Buquet. - -The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment, -he seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his -eyes upward, toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint -glimmer of a lantern, through a cranny between two boards. -This glimmer seemed to trouble the Persian. - -At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act. He slipped -between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul -close upon his heels. With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall. -Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed -against the wall in Christine's dressing-room. Then a stone gave way, -leaving a hole in the wall. - -This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made -a sign to Raoul to do as he did. He cocked the pistol. - -And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole -in the wall. Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content -to follow him. - -The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped almost at once. -Raoul heard him feeling the stones around him. Then the Persian took -out his dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath -him and immediately extinguished his lantern. Raoul heard him say, -in a whisper: - -"We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise; -take off your boots." - -The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul. - -"Put them outside the wall," he said. "We shall find them there -when we leave."[7] - ----- -[7] These two pairs of boots, which were placed, according to the Persian's -papers, just between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, -on the spot where Joseph Buquet was found hanging, were never discovered. -They must have been taken by some stage-carpenter or "door-shutter." - -He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round -and said: - -"I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and -let myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE. You must do exactly the same. -Do not be afraid. I will catch you in my arms." - -Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall -of the Persian, and then dropped down. - -He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms. - -"Hush!" said the Persian. - -And they stood motionless, listening. - -The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible. - -Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern again, -turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole through -which they had come, and failing to find it: - -"Oh!" he said. "The stone has closed of itself!" - -And the light of the lantern swept down the wall and over the floor. - -The Persian stooped and picked up something, a sort of cord, -which he examined for a second and flung away with horror. - -"The Punjab lasso!" he muttered. - -"What is it?" asked Raoul. - -The Persian shivered. "It might very well be the rope by which -the man was hanged, and which was looked for so long." - -And, suddenly seized with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk -of his lantern over the walls. In this way, he lit up a curious thing: -the trunk of a tree, which seemed still quite alive, with its leaves; -and the branches of that tree ran right up the walls and disappeared -in the ceiling. - -Because of the smallness of the luminous disk, it was difficult -at first to make out the appearance of things: they saw a corner -of a branch...and a leaf...and another leaf...and, -next to it, nothing at all, nothing but the ray of light -that seemed to reflect itself....Raoul passed his hand over -that nothing, over that reflection. - -"Hullo!" he said. "The wall is a looking-glass!" - -"Yes, a looking-glass!" said the Persian, in a tone of deep emotion. -And, passing the hand that held the pistol over his moist forehead, -he added, "We have dropped into the torture-chamber!" - -What the Persian knew of this torture-chamber and what there befell -him and his companion shall be told in his own words, as set down -in a manuscript which he left behind him, and which I copy VERBATIM. - - - -Chapter XXI Interesting and Instructive Vicissitudes of a -Persian in the Cellars of the Opera - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE - -It was the first time that I entered the house on the lake. -I had often begged the "trap-door lover," as we used to call Erik -in my country, to open its mysterious doors to me. He always refused. -I made very many attempts, but in vain, to obtain admittance. -Watch him as I might, after I first learned that he had taken up -his permanent abode at the Opera, the darkness was always too thick -to enable me to see how he worked the door in the wall on the lake. -One day, when I thought myself alone, I stepped into the boat -and rowed toward that part of the wall through which I had seen -Erik disappear. It was then that I came into contact with the siren -who guarded the approach and whose charm was very nearly fatal -to me. - -I had no sooner put off from the bank than the silence amid which I -floated on the water was disturbed by a sort of whispered singing -that hovered all around me. It was half breath, half music; -it rose softly from the waters of the lake; and I was surrounded by it -through I knew not what artifice. It followed me, moved with me -and was so soft that it did not alarm me. On the contrary, in my -longing to approach the source of that sweet and enticing harmony, -I leaned out of my little boat over the water, for there was no doubt -in my mind that the singing came from the water itself. By this time, -I was alone in the boat in the middle of the lake; the voice-- -for it was now distinctly a voice--was beside me, on the water. -I leaned over, leaned still farther. The lake was perfectly calm, -and a moonbeam that passed through the air hole in the Rue Scribe -showed me absolutely nothing on its surface, which was smooth and -black as ink. I shook my ears to get rid of a possible humming; -but I soon had to accept the fact that there was no humming in -the ears so harmonious as the singing whisper that followed and now -attracted me. - -Had I been inclined to superstition, I should have certainly thought -that I had to do with some siren whose business it was to confound -the traveler who should venture on the waters of the house on -the lake. Fortunately, I come from a country where we are too -fond of fantastic things not to know them through and through; -and I had no doubt but that I was face to face with some new -invention of Erik's. But this invention was so perfect that, -as I leaned out of the boat, I was impelled less by a desire -to discover its trick than to enjoy its charm; and I leaned out, -leaned out until I almost overturned the boat. - -Suddenly, two monstrous arms issued from the bosom of the waters -and seized me by the neck, dragging me down to the depths -with irresistible force. I should certainly have been lost, -if I had not had time to give a cry by which Erik knew me. -For it was he; and, instead of drowning me, as was certainly -his first intention, he swam with me and laid me gently on the bank: - -"How imprudent you are!" he said, as he stood before me, dripping with water. -"Why try to enter my house? I never invited you! I don't want you there, -nor anybody! Did you save my life only to make it unbearable to me? -However great the service you rendered him, Erik may end by forgetting -it; and you know that nothing can restrain Erik, not even Erik himself." - -He spoke, but I had now no other wish than to know what I already -called the trick of the siren. He satisfied my curiosity, for Erik, -who is a real monster--I have seen him at work in Persia, alas--is also, -in certain respects, a regular child, vain and self-conceited, -and there is nothing he loves so much, after astonishing people, -as to prove all the really miraculous ingenuity of his mind. - -He laughed and showed me a long reed. - -"It's the silliest trick you ever saw," he said, "but it's very useful for -breathing and singing in the water. I learned it from the Tonkin pirates, -who are able to remain hidden for hours in the beds of the rivers."[8] - ----- -[8] An official report from Tonkin, received in Paris at the end -of July, 1909, relates how the famous pirate chief De Tham -was tracked, together with his men, by our soldiers; and how -all of them succeeded in escaping, thanks to this trick of the reeds. - -I spoke to him severely. - -"It's a trick that nearly killed me!" I said. "And it may have -been fatal to others! You know what you promised me, Erik? -No more murders!" - -"Have I really committed murders?" he asked, putting on his most -amiable air. - -"Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours -of Mazenderan?" - -"Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. -I used to make the little sultana laugh, though!" - -"All that belongs to the past," I declared; "but there is the present -... and you are responsible to me for the present, because, -if I had wished, there would have been none at all for you. -Remember that, Erik: I saved your life!" - -And I took advantage of the turn of conversation to speak to him -of something that had long been on my mind: - -"Erik," I asked, "Erik, swear that..." - -"What?" he retorted. "You know I never keep my oaths. Oaths are -made to catch gulls with." - -"Tell me...you can tell me, at any rate. ..." - -"Well?" - -"Well, the chandelier...the chandelier, Erik?..." - -"What about the chandelier?" - -"You know what I mean." - -"Oh," he sniggered, "I don't mind telling you about the chandelier! -...IT WASN'T I!...The chandelier was very old and worn." - -When Erik laughed, he was more terrible than ever. He jumped into -the boat, chuckling so horribly that I could not help trembling. - -"Very old and worn, my dear daroga![9] Very old and worn, -the chandelier!...It fell of itself!...It came down -with a smash!...And now, daroga, take my advice and go -and dry yourself, or you'll catch a cold in the head!... -And never get into my boat again....And, whatever you do, -don't try to enter my house: I'm not always there...daroga! -And I should be sorry to have to dedicate my Requiem Mass to you!" - ----- -[9] DAROGA is Persian for chief of police. - -So saying, swinging to and fro, like a monkey, and still chuckling, -he pushed off and soon disappeared in the darkness of the lake. - -From that day, I gave up all thought of penetrating into his -house by the lake. That entrance was obviously too well guarded, -especially since he had learned that I knew about it. But I felt -that there must be another entrance, for I had often seen Erik -disappear in the third cellar, when I was watching him, though I -could not imagine how. - -Ever since I had discovered Erik installed in the Opera, I lived -in a perpetual terror of his horrible fancies, not in so far as I -was concerned, but I dreaded everything for others.[10] - ----- -[10] The Persian might easily have admitted that Erik's fate also -interested himself, for he was well aware that, if the government -of Teheran had learned that Erik was still alive, it would have -been all up with the modest pension of the erstwhile daroga. -It is only fair, however, to add that the Persian had a noble and -generous heart; and I do not doubt for a moment that the catastrophes -which he feared for others greatly occupied his mind. His conduct, -throughout this business, proves it and is above all praise. - -And whenever some accident, some fatal event happened, I always -thought to myself, "I should not be surprised if that were Erik," -even as others used to say, "It's the ghost!" How often have I -not heard people utter that phrase with a smile! Poor devils! -If they had known that the ghost existed in the flesh, I swear they -would not have laughed! - -Although Erik announced to me very solemnly that he had changed -and that he had become the most virtuous of men SINCE HE WAS LOVED -FOR HIMSELF--a sentence that, at first, perplexed me most terribly-- -I could not help shuddering when I thought of the monster. -His horrible, unparalleled and repulsive ugliness put him without -the pale of humanity; and it often seemed to me that, for this reason, -he no longer believed that he had any duty toward the human race. -The way in which he spoke of his love affairs only increased my alarm, -for I foresaw the cause of fresh and more hideous tragedies in this -event to which he alluded so boastfully. - -On the other hand, I soon discovered the curious moral traffic -established between the monster and Christine Daae. Hiding in -the lumber-room next to the young prima donna's dressing-room, -I listened to wonderful musical displays that evidently flung Christine -into marvelous ecstasy; but, all the same, I would never have thought -that Erik's voice--which was loud as thunder or soft as angels' voices, -at will--could have made her forget his ugliness. I understood all when -I learned that Christine had not yet seen him! I had occasion to go -to the dressing-room and, remembering the lessons he had once -given me, I had no difficulty in discovering the trick that made -the wall with the mirror swing round and I ascertained the means -of hollow bricks and so on--by which he made his voice carry -to Christine as though she heard it close beside her. In this way -also I discovered the road that led to the well and the dungeon-- -the Communists' dungeon--and also the trap-door that enabled Erik -to go straight to the cellars below the stage. - -A few days later, what was not my amazement to learn by my own eyes -and ears that Erik and Christine Daae saw each other and to catch -the monster stooping over the little well, in the Communists' -road and sprinkling the forehead of Christine Daae, who had fainted. -A white horse, the horse out of the PROFETA, which had disappeared -from the stables under the Opera, was standing quietly beside them. -I showed myself. It was terrible. I saw sparks fly from those yellow -eyes and, before I had time to say a word, I received a blow on -the head that stunned me. - -When I came to myself, Erik, Christine and the white horse had disappeared. -I felt sure that the poor girl was a prisoner in the house on -the lake. Without hesitation, I resolved to return to the bank, -notwithstanding the attendant danger. For twenty-four hours, I lay -in wait for the monster to appear; for I felt that he must go out, -driven by the need of obtaining provisions. And, in this connection, -I may say, that, when he went out in the streets or ventured to show -himself in public, he wore a pasteboard nose, with a mustache -attached to it, instead of his own horrible hole of a nose. -This did not quite take away his corpse-like air, but it made -him almost, I say almost, endurable to look at. - -I therefore watched on the bank of the lake and, weary of long waiting, -was beginning to think that he had gone through the other door, -the door in the third cellar, when I heard a slight splashing in -the dark, I saw the two yellow eyes shining like candles and soon -the boat touched shore. Erik jumped out and walked up to me: - -"You've been here for twenty-four hours," he said, "and you're -annoying me. I tell you, all this will end very badly. And you -will have brought it upon yourself; for I have been extraordinarily -patient with you. You think you are following me, you great booby, -whereas it's I who am following you; and I know all that you know -about me, here. I spared you yesterday, in MY COMMUNISTS' ROAD; -but I warn you, seriously, don't let me catch you there again! -Upon my word, you don't seem able to take a hint!" - -He was so furious that I did not think, for the moment, -of interrupting him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus, -he put his horrible thought into words: - -"Yes, you must learn, once and for all--once and for all, I say-- -to take a hint! I tell you that, with your recklessness--for you -have already been twice arrested by the shade in the felt hat, -who did not know what you were doing in the cellars and took you to -the managers, who looked upon you as an eccentric Persian interested -in stage mechanism and life behind the scenes: I know all about it, -I was there, in the office; you know I am everywhere--well, I tell -you that, with your recklessness, they will end by wondering what -you are after here...and they will end by knowing that you -are after Erik...and then they will be after Erik themselves -and they will discover the house on the lake....If they do, -it will be a bad lookout for you, old chap, a bad lookout!... -I won't answer for anything." - -Again he puffed and blew like a walrus. - -"I won't answer for anything!...If Erik's secrets cease to be -Erik's secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER -OF THE HUMAN RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you -are a great booby, it ought to be enough for you...except -that you don't know how to take a hint." - -He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his -heels against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer. -I simply said: - -"It's not Erik that I'm after here!" - -"Who then?" - -"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered. - -He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house. -I am loved for my own sake." - -"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are -keeping her locked up." - -"Listen," he said. "Will you promise never to meddle with my -affairs again, if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?" - -"Yes, I promise you," I replied, without hesitation, for I felt -convinced that for such a monster the proof was impossible. - -"Well, then, it's quite simple....Christine Daae shall leave -this as she pleases and come back again!...Yes, come back again, -because she wishes...come back of herself, because she loves me -for myself!..." - -"Oh, I doubt if she will come back!...But it is your duty to let -her go." "My duty, you great booby!...It is my wish... -my wish to let her go; and she will come back again...for she -loves me!...All this will end in a marriage...a marriage -at the Madeleine, you great booby! Do you believe me now? -When I tell you that my nuptial mass is written...wait till -you hear the KYRIE. ..." - -He beat time with his heels on the planks of the boat and sang: - -"KYRIE!...KYRIE!...KYRIE ELEISON!...Wait till you hear, -wait till you hear that mass." - -"Look here," I said. "I shall believe you if I see Christine Daae -come out of the house on the lake and go back to it of her own accord." - -"And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?" - -"No." - -"Very well, you shall see that to-night. Come to the masked ball. -Christine and I will go and have a look round. Then you can hide -in the lumber-room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone -to her dressing-room, delighted to come back by the Communists' road. -...And, now, be off, for I must go and do some shopping!" - -To my intense astonishment, things happened as he had announced. -Christine Daae left the house on the lake and returned to it -several times, without, apparently, being forced to do so. It was -very difficult for me to clear my mind of Erik. However, I resolved -to be extremely prudent, and did not make the mistake of returning -to the shore of the lake, or of going by the Communists' road. -But the idea of the secret entrance in the third cellar haunted me, -and I repeatedly went and waited for hours behind a scene from the Roi -de Lahore, which had been left there for some reason or other. -At last my patience was rewarded. One day, I saw the monster come -toward me, on his knees. I was certain that he could not see me. -He passed between the scene behind which I stood and a set piece, -went to the wall and pressed on a spring that moved a stone and -afforded him an ingress. He passed through this, and the stone closed -behind him. - -I waited for at least thirty minutes and then pressed the spring -in my turn. Everything happened as with Erik. But I was careful -not to go through the hole myself, for I knew that Erik was inside. -On the other hand, the idea that I might be caught by Erik suddenly -made me think of the death of Joseph Buquet. I did not wish -to jeopardize the advantages of so great a discovery which might -be useful to many people, "to a goodly number of the human race," -in Erik's words; and I left the cellars of the Opera after carefully -replacing the stone. - -I continued to be greatly interested in the relations between Erik -and Christine Daae, not from any morbid curiosity, but because of -the terrible thought which obsessed my mind that Erik was capable -of anything, if he once discovered that he was not loved for his -own sake, as he imagined. I continued to wander, very cautiously, -about the Opera and soon learned the truth about the monster's -dreary love-affair. - -He filled Christine's mind, through the terror with which he -inspired her, but the dear child's heart belonged wholly to the -Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. While they played about, like an innocent -engaged couple, on the upper floors of the Opera, to avoid the monster, -they little suspected that some one was watching over them. -I was prepared to do anything: to kill the monster, if necessary, -and explain to the police afterward. But Erik did not show himself; -and I felt none the more comfortable for that. - -I must explain my whole plan. I thought that the monster, -being driven from his house by jealousy, would thus enable me to -enter it, without danger, through the passage in the third cellar. -It was important, for everybody's sake, that I should know exactly -what was inside. One day, tired of waiting for an opportunity, -I moved the stone and at once heard an astounding music: -the monster was working at his Don Juan Triumphant, with every door -in his house wide open. I knew that this was the work of his life. -I was careful not to stir and remained prudently in my dark hole. - -He stopped playing, for a moment, and began walking about his place, -like a madman. And he said aloud, at the top of his voice: - -"It must be finished FIRST! Quite finished!" - -This speech was not calculated to reassure me and, when the -music recommenced, I closed the stone very softly. - -On the day of the abduction of Christine Daae, I did not come -to the theater until rather late in the evening, trembling lest I -should hear bad news. I had spent a horrible day, for, after reading -in a morning paper the announcement of a forthcoming marriage -between Christine and the Vicomte de Chagny, I wondered whether, -after all, I should not do better to denounce the monster. -But reason returned to me, and I was persuaded that this action -could only precipitate a possible catastrophe. - -When, my cab set me down before the Opera, I was really almost -astonished to see it still standing! But I am something of a fatalist, -like all good Orientals, and I entered ready, for anything. - -Christine Daae's abduction in the Prison Act, which naturally -surprised everybody, found me prepared. I was quite certain -that she had been juggled away by Erik, that prince of conjurers. -And I thought positively that this was the end of Christine and perhaps -of everybody, so much so that I thought of advising all these people -who were staying on at the theater to make good their escape. -I felt, however, that they would be sure to look upon me as mad -and I refrained. - -On the other hand, I resolved to act without further delay, -as far as I was concerned. The chances were in my favor that Erik, -at that moment, was thinking only of his captive. This was the -moment to enter his house through the third cellar; and I resolved -to take with me that poor little desperate viscount, who, at the -first suggestion, accepted, with an amount of confidence in myself -that touched me profoundly. I had sent my servant for my pistols. -I gave one to the viscount and advised him to hold himself ready -to fire, for, after all, Erik might be waiting for us behind the wall. -We were to go by the Communists' road and through the trap-door. - -Seeing my pistols, the little viscount asked me if we were going -to fight a duel. I said: - -"Yes; and what a duel!" But, of course, I had no time to explain -anything to him. The little viscount is a brave fellow, but he -knew hardly anything about his adversary; and it was so much -the better. My great fear was that he was already somewhere near us, -preparing the Punjab lasso. No one knows better than he how to throw -the Punjab lasso, for he is the king of stranglers even as he is -the prince of conjurors. When he had finished making the little -sultana laugh, at the time of the "rosy hours of Mazenderan," -she herself used to ask him to amuse her by giving her a thrill. -It was then that he introduced the sport of the Punjab lasso. - -He had lived in India and acquired an incredible skill in the art -of strangulation. He would make them lock him into a courtyard -to which they brought a warrior--usually, a man condemned to death-- -armed with a long pike and broadsword. Erik had only his lasso; -and it was always just when the warrior thought that he was going -to fell Erik with a tremendous blow that we heard the lasso whistle -through the air. With a turn of the wrist, Erik tightened the noose -round his adversary's neck and, in this fashion, dragged him before -the little sultana and her women, who sat looking from a window -and applauding. The little sultana herself learned to wield the Punjab -lasso and killed several of her women and even of the friends who -visited her. But I prefer to drop this terrible subject of the rosy -hours of Mazenderan. I have mentioned it only to explain why, -on arriving with the Vicomte de Chagny in the cellars of the Opera, -I was bound to protect my companion against the ever-threatening -danger of death by strangling. My pistols could serve no purpose, -for Erik was not likely to show himself; but Erik could always -strangle us. I had no time to explain all this to the viscount; -besides, there was nothing to be gained by complicating the position. -I simply told M. de Chagny to keep his hand at the level of his eyes, -with the arm bent, as though waiting for the command to fire. -With his victim in this attitude, it is impossible even for -the most expert strangler to throw the lasso with advantage. -It catches you not only round the neck, but also round the arm -or hand. This enables you easily to unloose the lasso, which then -becomes harmless. - -After avoiding the commissary of police, a number of door-shutters -and the firemen, after meeting the rat-catcher and passing the man -in the felt hat unperceived, the viscount and I arrived without -obstacle in the third cellar, between the set piece and the scene -from the Roi de Lahore. I worked the stone, and we jumped -into the house which Erik had built himself in the double case -of the foundation-walls of the Opera. And this was the easiest -thing in the world for him to do, because Erik was one of the chief -contractors under Philippe Garnier, the architect of the Opera, -and continued to work by himself when the works were officially -suspended, during the war, the siege of Paris and the Commune. - -I knew my Erik too well to feel at all comfortable on jumping into -his house. I knew what he had made of a certain palace at Mazenderan. -From being the most honest building conceivable, he soon turned it -into a house of the very devil, where you could not utter a word -but it was overheard or repeated by an echo. With his trap-doors -the monster was responsible for endless tragedies of all kinds. -He hit upon astonishing inventions. Of these, the most curious, -horrible and dangerous was the so-called torture-chamber. Except -in special cases, when the little sultana amused herself by inflicting -suffering upon some unoffending citizen, no one was let into it -but wretches condemned to death. And, even then, when these had -"had enough," they were always at liberty to put an end to themselves -with a Punjab lasso or bowstring, left for their use at the foot -of an iron tree. - -My alarm, therefore, was great when I saw that the room into -which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I had dropped was an exact -copy of the torture-chamber of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. -At our feet, I found the Punjab lasso which I had been dreading -all the evening. I was convinced that this rope had already done -duty for Joseph Buquet, who, like myself, must have caught Erik one -evening working the stone in the third cellar. He probably tried it -in his turn, fell into the torture-chamber and only left it hanged. -I can well imagine Erik dragging the body, in order to get rid of it, -to the scene from the Roi de Lahore, and hanging it there as an example, -or to increase the superstitious terror that was to help him -in guarding the approaches to his lair! Then, upon reflection, -Erik went back to fetch the Punjab lasso, which is very curiously -made out of catgut, and which might have set an examining -magistrate thinking. This explains the disappearance of the rope. - -And now I discovered the lasso, at our feet, in the torture-chamber! -... I am no coward, but a cold sweat covered my forehead as I -moved the little red disk of my lantern over the walls. - -M. de Chagny noticed it and asked: - -"What is the matter, sir?" - -I made him a violent sign to be silent. - - - -Chapter XXII In the Torture Chamber - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -We were in the middle of a little six-cornered room, the sides -of which were covered with mirrors from top to bottom. -In the corners, we could clearly see the "joins" in the glasses, -the segments intended to turn on their gear; yes, I recognized -them and I recognized the iron tree in the corner, at the bottom -of one of those segments...the iron tree, with its iron branch, -for the hanged men. - -I seized my companion's arm: the Vicomte de Chagny was all a-quiver, -eager to shout to his betrothed that he was bringing her help. -I feared that he would not be able to contain himself. - -Suddenly, we heard a noise on our left. It sounded at first -like a door opening and shutting in the next room; and then there -was a dull moan. I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still; -and then we distinctly heard these words: - -"You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!" -I recognized the voice of the monster. - -There was another moan, followed by a long silence. - -I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence -in his house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not -to let us hear him. He would only have had to close the little -invisible window through which the torture-lovers look down into -the torture-chamber. Besides, I was certain that, if he had known -of our presence, the tortures would have begun at once. - -The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded -nothing so much as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny, -who wanted to rush through the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans -we continued to hear at intervals. - -"The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed, -"whereas the wedding mass--you can take my word for it--is magnificent! -You must take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go -on living like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant -is finished; and now I want to live like everybody else. I want -to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. -I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not -even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. -And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. -You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. -Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. -If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do -anything with me that you pleased." - -Soon the moans that accompanied this sort of love's litany increased -and increased. I have never heard anything more despairing; -and M. de Chagny and I recognized that this terrible lamentation came -from Erik himself. Christine seemed to be standing dumb with horror, -without the strength to cry out, while the monster was on his knees -before her. - -Three times over, Erik fiercely bewailed his fate: - -"You don't love me! You don't love me! You don't love me!" - -And then, more gently: - -"Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!" - -A silence. - -Each silence gave us fresh hope. We said to ourselves: - -"Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall." - -And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae -of our presence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave -the torture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us; -and it was only on this condition that we could hope to help her, -for we did not even know where the door might be. - -Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing -of an electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall -and Erik's voice of thunder: - -"Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!" - -A sinister chuckle. - -"Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here....I AM GOING -TO TELL THE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR." - -Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the fresh -horror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going -out perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing: -Christine was alone behind the wall! - -The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her: - -"Christine! Christine!" - -As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was -no reason why my companion should not be heard in his turn. -Nevertheless, the viscount had to repeat his cry time after time. - -At last, a faint voice reached us. - -"I am dreaming!" it said. - -"Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul!" - -A silence. - -"But answer me, Christine!...In Heaven's name, if you are alone, -answer me!" - -Then Christine's voice whispered Raoul's name. - -"Yes! Yes! It is I! It is not a dream!...Christine, -trust me!...We are here to save you...but be prudent! -When you hear the monster, warn us!" - -Then Christine gave way to fear. She trembled lest Erik should -discover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words -that Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO -KILL EVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent -to become his wife. He had given her till eleven o'clock the next -evening for reflection. It was the last respite. She must choose, -as he said, between the wedding mass and the requiem. - -And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not -quite understand: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded -in a terrible manner with my own dreadful thought. - -"Can you tell us where Erik is?" I asked. - -She replied that he must have left the house. - -"Could you make sure?" - -"No. I am fastened. I can not stir a limb." - -When we heard this, M. de Chagny and I gave a yell of fury. -Our safety, the safety of all three of us, depended on the girl's -liberty of movement. - -"But where are you?" asked Christine. "There are only two doors -in my room, the Louis-Philippe room of which I told you, Raoul; a door -through which Erik comes and goes, and another which he has never -opened before me and which he has forbidden me ever to go through, -because he says it is the most dangerous of the doors, the door -of the torture-chamber!" - -"Christine, that is where we are!" - -"You are in the torture-chamber?" - -"Yes, but we can not see the door." - -"Oh, if I could only drag myself so far! I would knock at the door -and that would tell you where it is." - -"Is it a door with a lock to it?" I asked. - -"Yes, with a lock." - -"Mademoiselle," I said, "it is absolutely necessary, that you -should open that door to us!" - -"But how?" asked the poor girl tearfully. - -We heard her straining, trying to free herself from the bonds -that held her. - -"I know where the key is," she said, in a voice that seemed exhausted -by the effort she had made. "But I am fastened so tight....Oh, -the wretch!" - -And she gave a sob. - -"Where is the key?" I asked, signing to M. de Chagny not to speak -and to leave the business to me, for we had not a moment to lose. - -"In the next room, near the organ, with another little bronze key, -which he also forbade me to touch. They are both in a little -leather bag which he calls the bag of life and death. -... Raoul! Raoul! Fly! Everything is mysterious and -terrible here, and Erik will soon have gone quite mad, and you -are in the torture-chamber!...Go back by the way you came. -There must be a reason why the room is called by that name!" - -"Christine," said the young man. "we will go from here together -or die together!" - -"We must keep cool," I whispered. "Why has he fastened you, -mademoiselle? You can't escape from his house; and he knows it!" - -"I tried to commit suicide! The monster went out last night, -after carrying me here fainting and half chloroformed. He was -going TO HIS BANKER, so he said!...When he returned he found -me with my face covered with blood....I had tried to kill -myself by striking my forehead against the walls." - -"Christine!" groaned Raoul; and he began to sob. - -"Then he bound me....I am not allowed to die until eleven -o'clock to-morrow evening." - -"Mademoiselle," I declared, "the monster bound you...and he -shall unbind you. You have only to play the necessary part! -Remember that he loves you!" - -"Alas!" we heard. "Am I likely to forget it!" - -"Remember it and smile to him...entreat him...tell him -that your bonds hurt you." - -But Christine Daae said: - -"Hush!...I hear something in the wall on the lake!...It -is he!...Go away! Go away! Go away!" - -"We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressively -as I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in the torture-chamber!" - -"Hush!" whispered Christine again. - -Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made -the floor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by -a cry of horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice: - -"I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! -What a state I am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! -Why did he ring? Do I ask people who pass to tell me the time? -He will never ask anybody the time again! It is the siren's fault." - -{two page color illustration} - -Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmal -depths of a soul. - -"Why did you cry out, Christine?" - -"Because I am in pain, Erik." - -"I thought I had frightened you." - -"Erik, unloose my bonds....Am I not your prisoner?" - -"You will try to kill yourself again." - -"You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik." - -The footsteps dragged along the floor again. - -"After all, as we are to die together...and I am just as eager -as you...yes, I have had enough of this life, you know. -...Wait, don't move, I will release you....You have only -one word to say: `NO!' And it will at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! -...You are right, you are right; why wait till eleven o'clock -to-morrow evening? True, it would have been grander, finer....But -that is childish nonsense....We should only think of ourselves -in this life, of our own death...the rest doesn't matter. -...YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET?... Oh, -my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside!...Apart from that, -Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations....You know, -the man who rang at the siren's door just now--go and look if he's -ringing at the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like. -...There, turn round...are you glad? You're free now. -...Oh, my poor Christine, look at your wrists: tell me, have I -hurt them?...That alone deserves death....Talking of death, -I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!" - -Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment -...I too had once rung at the monster's door...and, -without knowing it, must have set some warning current in motion. - -And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters. -...What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? -Who was `the other one,' the one whose requiem we now heard sung? - -Erik sang like the god of thunder, sang a DIES IRAE that enveloped -us as in a storm. The elements seemed to rage around us. -Suddenly, the organ and the voice ceased so suddenly that M. de -Chagny sprang back, on the other side of the wall, with emotion. -And the voice, changed and transformed, distinctly grated -out these metallic syllables: "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG?" - - - -Chapter XXIII The Tortures Begin - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. - -The voice repeated angrily: "What have you done with my bag? -So it was to take my bag that you asked me to release you!" - -We heard hurried steps, Christine running back to the Louis-Philippe -room, as though to seek shelter on the other side of our wall. - -"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, -which had followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? -Don't you know that it is the bag of life and death?" - -"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we -are to live together...what difference can it make to you?" - -"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. -"What do you want to do?" - -"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you -have always kept from me....It's woman's curiosity!" she said, -in a tone which she tried to render playful. - -But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it. - -"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better -remember the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful....Come, give me -back my bag!...Give me back my bag!...Leave the key alone, -will you, you inquisitive little thing?" - -And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had -evidently recovered the bag from her. - -At that moment, the viscount could not help uttering an exclamation -of impotent rage. - -"Why, what's that?" said the monster. "Did you hear, Christine?" - -"No, no," replied the poor girl. "I heard nothing." - -"I thought I heard a cry." - -"A cry! Are you going mad, Erik? Whom do you expect to give a cry, -in this house?...I cried out, because you hurt me! I heard nothing." - -"I don't like the way you said that!...You're trembling. -... You're quite excited....You're lying!...That was a cry, -there was a cry!...There is some one in the torture-chamber!... -Ah, I understand now!" - -"There is no one there, Erik!" - -"I understand!" - -"No one!" - -"The man you want to marry, perhaps!" - -"I don't want to marry anybody, you know I don't." - -Another nasty chuckle. "Well, it won't take long to find out. -Christine, my love, we need not open the door to see what is happening -in the torture-chamber. Would you like to see? Would you like -to see? Look here! If there is some one, if there is really some -one there, you will see the invisible window light up at the top, -near the ceiling. We need only draw the black curtain and put out -the light in here. There, that's it....Let's put out the light! -You're not afraid of the dark, when you're with your little husband!" - -Then we heard Christine's voice of anguish: - -"No!...I'm frightened!...I tell you, I'm afraid of the dark!... -I don't care about that room now....You're always frightening me, -like a child, with your torture-chamber!...And so I became inquisitive. -...But I don't care about it now...not a bit...not a bit!" - -And that which I feared above all things began, AUTOMATICALLY. -We were suddenly flooded with light! Yes, on our side of the wall, -everything seemed aglow. The Vicomte de Chagny was so much taken -aback that he staggered. And the angry voice roared: - -"I told you there was some one! Do you see the window now? -The lighted window, right up there? The man behind the wall can't -see it! But you shall go up the folding steps: that is what they -are there for!...You have often asked me to tell you; and now you -know!...They are there to give a peep into the torture-chamber -...you inquisitive little thing!" - -"What tortures?...Who is being tortured?...Erik, Erik, say you -are only trying to frighten me!...Say it, if you love me, -Erik!...There are no tortures, are there?" - -"Go and look at the little window, dear!" - -I do not know if the viscount heard the girl's swooning voice, -for he was too much occupied by the astounding spectacle that now -appeared before his distracted gaze. As for me, I had seen that sight -too often, through the little window, at the time of the rosy hours -of Mazenderan; and I cared only for what was being said next door, -seeking for a hint how to act, what resolution to take. - -"Go and peep through the little window! Tell me what he looks like!" - -We heard the steps being dragged against the wall. - -"Up with you!...No!...No, I will go up myself, dear!" - -"Oh, very well, I will go up. Let me go!" - -"Oh, my darling, my darling!...How sweet of you!...How nice -of you to save me the exertion at my age!...Tell me what he -looks like!" - -At that moment, we distinctly heard these words above our heads: - -"There is no one there, dear!" - -"No one?...Are you sure there is no one?" - -"Why, of course not...no one!" - -"Well, that's all right!...What's the matter, Christine? -You're not going to faint, are you...as there is no one there?... -Here...come down...there!...Pull yourself together...as there -is no one there!...BUT HOW DO YOU LIKE THE LANDSCAPE?" - -"Oh, very much!" - -"There, that's better!...You're better now, are you not?... -That's all right, you're better!...No excitement!...And -what a funny house, isn't it, with landscapes like that in it?" - -"Yes, it's like the Musee Grevin....But, say, Erik...there -are no tortures in there!...What a fright you gave me!" - -"Why...as there is no one there?" - -"Did you design that room? It's very handsome. You're a -great artist, Erik." - -"Yes, a great artist, in my own line." - -"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?" - -"Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?" - -"I saw a forest." - -"And what is in a forest?" - -"Trees." - -"And what is in a tree?" - -"Birds." - -"Did you see any birds?" - -"No, I did not see any birds." - -"Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are -the branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET! -That is why I call my wood the torture-chamber!...You see, -it's all a joke. I never express myself like other people. -But I am very tired of it!...I'm sick and tired of having a forest -and a torture-chamber in my house and of living like a mountebank, -in a house with a false bottom!...I'm tired of it! I want to -have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary doors and windows and a wife -inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom I could love and take -out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days...Here, shall I show -you some card-tricks? That will help us to pass a few minutes, -while waiting for eleven o'clock to-morrow evening....My dear little -Christine!...Are you listening to me?...Tell me you love me!... -No, you don't love me...but no matter, you will!...Once, -you could not look at my mask because you knew what was behind. -...And now you don't mind looking at it and you forget what is -behind!...One can get used to everything...if one wishes. -...Plenty of young people who did not care for each other -before marriage have adored each other since! Oh, I don't know -what I am talking about! But you would have lots of fun with me. -For instance, I am the greatest ventriloquist that ever lived, I am -the first ventriloquist in the world!...You're laughing.... -Perhaps you don't believe me? Listen." - -The wretch, who really was the first ventriloquist in the world, -was only trying to divert the child's attention from the torture-chamber; -but it was a stupid scheme, for Christine thought of nothing but us! -She repeatedly besought him, in the gentlest tones which she -could assume: - -"Put out the light in the little window!...Erik, do put out -the light in the little window!" - -For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of -which the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean -something terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment; -and that was seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst -of that resplendent light, alive and well. But she would certainly -have felt much easier if the light had been put out. - -Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. -He said: - -"Here, I raise my mask a little....Oh, only a little!... -You see my lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving!...My -mouth is closed--such mouth as I have--and yet you hear my voice. -...Where will you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? -In the table? In those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece?... -Listen, dear, it's in the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: -what does it say? `SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?'...And now, crack! -What does it say in the little box on the left? `SHALL I TURN -THE GRASSHOPPER?'...And now, crack! Here it is in the little -leather bag....What does it say? `I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE -AND DEATH!'...And now, crack! It is in Carlotta's throat, -in Carlotta's golden throat, in Carlotta's crystal throat, as I live! -What does it say? It says, `It's I, Mr. Toad, it's I singing! -I FEEL WITHOUT ALARM--CO-ACK--WITH ITS MELODY ENWIND ME--CO-ACK!'... -And now, crack! It is on a chair in the ghost's box and it says, -`MADAME CARLOTTA IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!' -...And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik's voice now? -Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of the -torture-chamber! Listen! It's myself in the torture-chamber! And -what do I say? I say, `Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, -and come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!'" - -Oh, the ventriloquist's terrible voice! It was everywhere, everywhere. -It passed through the little invisible window, through the walls. -It ran around us, between us. Erik was there, speaking to us! -We made a movement as though to fling ourselves upon him. -But, already, swifter, more fleeting than the voice of the echo, -Erik's voice had leaped back behind the wall! - -Soon we heard nothing more at all, for this is what happened: - -"Erik! Erik!" said Christine's voice. "You tire me with your voice. -Don't go on, Erik! Isn't it very hot here?" - -"Oh, yes," replied Erik's voice, "the heat is unendurable!" - -"But what does this mean?...The wall is really getting quite -hot!...The wall is burning!" - -"I'll tell you, Christine, dear: it is because of the forest -next door." - -"Well, what has that to do with it? The forest?" - -"WHY, DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WAS AN AFRICAN FOREST?" - -And the monster laughed so loudly and hideously that we could no -longer distinguish Christine's supplicating cries! The Vicomte de -Chagny shouted and banged against the walls like a madman. I could -not restrain him. But we heard nothing except the monster's laughter, -and the monster himself can have heard nothing else. And then there -was the sound of a body falling on the floor and being dragged along -and a door slammed and then nothing, nothing more around us save -the scorching silence of the south in the heart of a tropical forest! - - - -Chapter XXIV Barrels!...Barrels!...Any Barrels to Sell?" - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -I have said that the room in which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I -were imprisoned was a regular hexagon, lined entirely with mirrors. -Plenty of these rooms have been seen since, mainly at exhibitions: -they are called "palaces of illusion," or some such name. -But the invention belongs entirely to Erik, who built the first -room of this kind under my eyes, at the time of the rosy hours -of Mazenderan. A decorative object, such as a column, for instance, -was placed in one of the corners and immediately produced a hall -of a thousand columns; for, thanks to the mirrors, the real room -was multiplied by six hexagonal rooms, each of which, in its turn, -was multiplied indefinitely. But the little sultana soon tired -of this infantile illusion, whereupon Erik altered his invention -into a "torture-chamber." For the architectural motive placed -in one corner, he substituted an iron tree. This tree, with its -painted leaves, was absolutely true to life and was made of iron -so as to resist all the attacks of the "patient" who was locked into -the torture-chamber. We shall see how the scene thus obtained was twice -altered instantaneously into two successive other scenes, by means -of the automatic rotation of the drums or rollers in the corners. -These were divided into three sections, fitting into the angles -of the mirrors and each supporting a decorative scheme that came into -sight as the roller revolved upon its axis. - -The walls of this strange room gave the patient nothing to lay -hold of, because, apart from the solid decorative object, they were -simply furnished with mirrors, thick enough to withstand any onslaught -of the victim, who was flung into the chamber empty-handed and barefoot. - -There was no furniture. The ceiling was capable of being lit up. -An ingenious system of electric heating, which has since been imitated, -allowed the temperature of the walls and room to be increased -at will. - -I am giving all these details of a perfectly natural invention, -producing, with a few painted branches, the supernatural illusion -of an equatorial forest blazing under the tropical sun, so that no -one may doubt the present balance of my brain or feel entitled -to say that I am mad or lying or that I take him for a fool.[11] - ----- -[11] It is very natural that, at the time when the Persian was writing, -he should take so many precautions against any spirit of incredulity -on the part of those who were likely to read his narrative. -Nowadays, when we have all seen this sort of room, his precautions -would be superfluous. - -I now return to the facts where I left them. When the ceiling lit up -and the forest became visible around us, the viscount's stupefaction -was immense. That impenetrable forest, with its innumerable -trunks and branches, threw him into a terrible state of consternation. -He passed his hands over his forehead, as though to drive away a dream; -his eyes blinked; and, for a moment, he forgot to listen. - -I have already said that the sight of the forest did not surprise -me at all; and therefore I listened for the two of us to what was -happening next door. Lastly, my attention was especially attracted, -not so much to the scene, as to the mirrors that produced it. -These mirrors were broken in parts. Yes, they were marked and scratched; -they had been "starred," in spite of their solidity; and this proved -to me that the torture-chamber in which we now were HAD ALREADY -SERVED A PURPOSE. - -Yes, some wretch, whose feet were not bare like those of the victims -of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had certainly fallen into this -"mortal illusion" and, mad with rage, had kicked against those -mirrors which, nevertheless, continued to reflect his agony. -And the branch of the tree on which he had put an end to his own -sufferings was arranged in such a way that, before dying, he had seen, -for his last consolation, a thousand men writhing in his company. - -Yes, Joseph Buquet had undoubtedly been through all this! -Were we to die as he had done? I did not think so, for I knew -that we had a few hours before us and that I could employ them -to better purpose than Joseph Buquet was able to do. After all, -I was thoroughly acquainted with most of Erik's "tricks;" and now -or never was the time to turn my knowledge to account. - -To begin with, I gave up every idea of returning to the passage that -had brought us to that accursed chamber. I did not trouble about -the possibility of working the inside stone that closed the passage; -and this for the simple reason that to do so was out of the question. -We had dropped from too great a height into the torture-chamber; -there was no furniture to help us reach that passage; not even -the branch of the iron tree, not even each other's shoulders were -of any avail. - -There was only one possible outlet, that opening into the Louis-Philippe -room in which Erik and Christine Daae were. But, though this outlet looked -like an ordinary door on Christine's side, it was absolutely invisible -to us. We must therefore try to open it without even knowing where it was. - -When I was quite sure that there was no hope for us from Christine -Daae's side, when I had heard the monster dragging the poor girl from -the Louis-Philippe room LEST SHE SHOULD INTERFERE WITH OUR TORTURES, -I resolved to set to work without delay. - -But I had first to calm M. de Chagny, who was already walking -about like a madman, uttering incoherent cries. The snatches of -conversation which he had caught between Christine and the monster -had contributed not a little to drive him beside himself: -add to that the shock of the magic forest and the scorching heat -which was beginning to make the prespiration{sic} stream down his -temples and you will have no difficulty in understanding his state -of mind. He shouted Christine's name, brandished his pistol, -knocked his forehead against the glass in his endeavors to run -down the glades of the illusive forest. In short, the torture -was beginning to work its spell upon a brain unprepared for it. - -I did my best to induce the poor viscount to listen to reason. -I made him touch the mirrors and the iron tree and the branches -and explained to him, by optical laws, all the luminous imagery -by which we were surrounded and of which we need not allow ourselves -to be the victims, like ordinary, ignorant people. - -"We are in a room, a little room; that is what you must keep saying -to yourself. And we shall leave the room as soon as we have found -the door." - -And I promised him that, if he let me act, without disturbing me -by shouting and walking up and down, I would discover the trick -of the door in less than an hour's time. - -Then he lay flat on the floor, as one does in a wood, and declared -that he would wait until I found the door of the forest, as there -was nothing better to do! And he added that, from where he was, -"the view was splendid!" The torture was working, in spite of all -that I had said. - -Myself, forgetting the forest, I tackled a glass panel and began -to finger it in every direction, hunting for the weak point on which -to press in order to turn the door in accordance with Erik's system -of pivots. This weak point might be a mere speck on the glass, -no larger than a pea, under which the spring lay hidden. -I hunted and hunted. I felt as high as my hands could reach. -Erik was about the same height as myself and I thought that he would -not have placed the spring higher than suited his stature. - -While groping over the successive panels with the greatest care, -I endeavored not to lose a minute, for I was feeling more and more -overcome with the heat and we were literally roasting in that -blazing forest. - -I had been working like this for half an hour and had finished -three panels, when, as ill-luck would have it, I turned round -on hearing a muttered exclamation from the viscount. - -"I am stifling," he said. "All those mirrors are sending out -an infernal heat! Do you think you will find that spring soon? -If you are much longer about it, we shall be roasted alive!" - -I was not sorry to hear him talk like this. He had not said a word -of the forest and I hoped that my companion's reason would hold -out some time longer against the torture. But he added: - -"What consoles me is that the monster has given Christine until -eleven to-morrow evening. If we can't get out of here and go -to her assistance, at least we shall be dead before her! -Then Erik's mass can serve for all of us!" - -And he gulped down a breath of hot air that nearly made him faint. - -As I had not the same desperate reasons as M. le Vicomte for -accepting death, I returned, after giving him a word of encouragement, -to my panel, but I had made the mistake of taking a few steps while -speaking and, in the tangle of the illusive forest, I was no longer -able to find my panel for certain! I had to begin all over again, -at random, feeling, fumbling, groping. - -Now the fever laid hold of me in my turn...for I found nothing, -absolutely nothing. In the next room, all was silence. We were -quite lost in the forest, without an outlet, a compass, a guide -or anything. Oh, I knew what awaited us if nobody came to our aid... -or if I did not find the spring! But, look as I might, I found -nothing but branches, beautiful branches that stood straight up -before me, or spread gracefully over my head. But they gave no shade. -And this was natural enough, as we were in an equatorial forest, -with the sun right above our heads, an African forest. - -M. de Chagny and I had repeatedly taken off our coats and put them -on again, finding at one time that they made us feel still hotter -and at another that they protected us against the heat. I was still -making a moral resistance, but M. de Chagny seemed to me quite "gone." -He pretended that he had been walking in that forest for three -days and nights, without stopping, looking for Christine Daae! -From time to time, he thought he saw her behind the trunk of a tree, -or gliding between the branches; and he called to her with words -of supplication that brought the tears to my eyes. And then, -at last: - -"Oh, how thirsty I am!" he cried, in delirious accents. - -I too was thirsty. My throat was on fire. And, yet, squatting on -the floor, I went on hunting, hunting, hunting for the spring of -the invisible door...especially as it was dangerous to remain -in the forest as evening drew nigh. Already the shades of night -were beginning to surround us. It had happened very quickly: -night falls quickly in tropical countries...suddenly, with hardly -any twilight. - -Now night, in the forests of the equator, is always dangerous, -particularly when, like ourselves, one has not the materials for a -fire to keep off the beasts of prey. I did indeed try for a moment -to break off the branches, which I would have lit with my dark lantern, -but I knocked myself also against the mirrors and remembered, -in time, that we had only images of branches to do with. - -The heat did not go with the daylight; on the contrary, it was now -still hotter under the blue rays of the moon. I urged the viscount -to hold our weapons ready to fire and not to stray from camp, -while I went on looking for my spring. - -Suddenly, we heard a lion roaring a few yards away. - -"Oh," whispered the viscount, "he is quite close!...Don't you -see him?...There...through the trees...in that thicket! -If he roars again, I will fire!..." - -And the roaring began again, louder than before. And the viscount fired, -but I do not think that he hit the lion; only, he smashed a mirror, -as I perceived the next morning, at daybreak. We must have covered -a good distance during the night, for we suddenly found ourselves on -the edge of the desert, an immense desert of sand, stones and rocks. -It was really not worth while leaving the forest to come upon -the desert. Tired out, I flung myself down beside the viscount, -for I had had enough of looking for springs which I could not find. - -I was quite surprised--and I said so to the viscount--that we -had encountered no other dangerous animals during the night. -Usually, after the lion came the leopard and sometimes the buzz -of the tsetse fly. These were easily obtained effects; and I -explained to M. de Chagny that Erik imitated the roar of a lion -on a long tabour or timbrel, with an ass's skin at one end. -Over this skin he tied a string of catgut, which was fastened -at the middle to another similar string passing through the whole -length of the tabour. Erik had only to rub this string with a glove -smeared with resin and, according to the manner in which he rubbed it, -he imitated to perfection the voice of the lion or the leopard, -or even the buzzing of the tsetse fly. - -The idea that Erik was probably in the room beside us, working his trick, -made me suddenly resolve to enter into a parley with him, for we -must obviously give up all thought of taking him by surprise. -And by this time he must be quite aware who were the occupants -of his torture-chamber. I called him: "Erik! Erik!" - -I shouted as loudly as I could across the desert, but there was no answer -to my voice. All around us lay the silence and the bare immensity of that -stony desert. What was to become of us in the midst of that awful solitude? - -We were beginning literally to die of heat, hunger and thirst... -of thirst especially. At last, I saw M. de Chagny raise himself -on his elbow and point to a spot on the horizon. He had discovered -an oasis! - -Yes, far in the distance was an oasis...an oasis with limpid water, -which reflected the iron trees!...Tush, it was the scene of -the mirage....I recognized it at once...the worst of the -three!...No one had been able to fight against it...no one. -...I did my utmost to keep my head AND NOT TO HOPE FOR WATER, -because I knew that, if a man hoped for water, the water that -reflected the iron tree, and if, after hoping for water, he struck -against the mirror, then there was only one thing for him to do: -to hang himself on the iron tree! - -So I cried to M. de Chagny: - -"It's the mirage!...It's the mirage!...Don't believe -in the water!...It's another trick of the mirrors!..." - -Then he flatly told me to shut up, with my tricks of the mirrors, -my springs, my revolving doors and my palaces of illusions! -He angrily declared that I must be either blind or mad to imagine -that all that water flowing over there, among those splendid, -numberless trees, was not real water!...And the desert was real! -...And so was the forest!...And it was no use trying to take -him in...he was an old, experienced traveler...he had been -all over the place! - -And he dragged himself along, saying: "Water! Water!" - -And his mouth was open, as though he were drinking. - -And my mouth was open too, as though I were drinking. - -For we not only saw the water, but WE HEARD IT!...We heard -it flow, we heard it ripple!...Do you understand that word -"ripple?"...IT IS A SOUND WHICH YOU HEAR WITH YOUR TONGUE! -...You put your tongue out of your mouth to listen to it better! - -Lastly--and this was the most pitiless torture of all--we heard -the rain and it was not raining! This was an infernal invention. -...Oh, I knew well enough how Erik obtained it! He filled -with little stones a very long and narrow box, broken up inside -with wooden and metal projections. The stones, in falling, -struck against these projections and rebounded from one to another; -and the result was a series of pattering sounds that exactly imitated -a rainstorm. - -Ah, you should have seen us putting out our tongues and dragging ourselves -toward the rippling river-bank! Our eyes and ears were full of water, -but our tongues were hard and dry as horn! - -When we reached the mirror, M.de Chagny licked it...and I -also licked the glass. - -It was burning hot! - -Then we rolled on the floor with a hoarse cry of despair. -M. de Chagny put the one pistol that was still loaded to his temple; -and I stared at the Punjab lasso at the foot of the iron tree. -I knew why the iron tree had returned, in this third change of scene!... -The iron tree was waiting for me!... - -But, as I stared at the Punjab lasso, I saw a thing that made me -start so violently that M. de Chagny delayed his attempt at suicide. -I took his arm. And then I caught the pistol from him...and then -I dragged myself on my knees toward what I had seen. - -I had discovered, near the Punjab lasso, in a groove in the floor, -a black-headed nail of which I knew the use. At last I had discovered -the spring! I felt the nail....I lifted a radiant face to -M. de Chagny....The black-headed nail yielded to my pressure.... - -And then.... - -And then we saw not a door opened in the wall, but a cellar-flap -released in the floor. Cool air came up to us from the black -hole below. We stooped over that square of darkness as though over -a limpid well. With our chins in the cool shade, we drank it in. -And we bent lower and lower over the trap-door. What could there -be in that cellar which opened before us? Water? Water to drink? - -I thrust my arm into the darkness and came upon a stone and another -stone...a staircase...a dark staircase leading into the cellar. -The viscount wanted to fling himself down the hole; but I, -fearing a new trick of the monster's, stopped him, turned on -my dark lantern and went down first. - -The staircase was a winding one and led down into pitchy darkness. -But oh, how deliciously cool were the darkness and the stairs? -The lake could not be far away. - -We soon reached the bottom. Our eyes were beginning to accustom -themselves to the dark, to distinguish shapes around us... -circular shapes...on which I turned the light of my lantern. - -Barrels! - -We were in Erik's cellar: it was here that he must keep his wine -and perhaps his drinking-water. I knew that Erik was a great lover -of good wine. Ah, there was plenty to drink here! - -M. de Chagny patted the round shapes and kept on saying: - -"Barrels! Barrels! What a lot of barrels!..." - -Indeed, there was quite a number of them, symmetrically arranged -in two rows, one on either side of us. They were small barrels -and I thought that Erik must have selected them of that size -to facilitate their carriage to the house on the lake. - -We examined them successively, to see if one of them had not -a funnel, showing that it had been tapped at some time or another. -But all the barrels were hermetically closed. - -Then, after half lifting one to make sure it was full, we went -on our knees and, with the blade of a small knife which I carried, -I prepared to stave in the bung-hole. - -At that moment, I seemed to hear, coming from very far, a sort -of monotonous chant which I knew well, from often hearing it -in the streets of Paris: - -"Barrels!...Barrels!...Any barrels to sell? - -My hand desisted from its work. M. de Chagny had also heard. -He said: - -"That's funny! It sounds as if the barrel were singing!" - -The song was renewed, farther away: - -"Barrels!...Barrels!...Any barrels to sell?..." - -"Oh, I swear," said the viscount, "that the tune dies away -in the barrel!..." - -We stood up and went to look behind the barrel. - -"It's inside," said M. de Chagny, "it's inside!" - -But we heard nothing there and were driven to accuse the bad condition -of our senses. And we returned to the bung-hole. M. de Chagny -put his two hands together underneath it and, with a last effort, -I burst the bung. - -"What's this?" cried the viscount. "This isn't water!" - -The viscount put his two full hands close to my lantern....I -stooped to look...and at once threw away the lantern with such -violence that it broke and went out, leaving us in utter darkness. - -What I had seen in M. de Chagny's hands...was gun-powder! - - - -Chapter XXV The Scorpion or the Grasshopper: Which? - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONCLUDED - -The discovery flung us into a state of alarm that made us forget all -our past and present sufferings. We now knew all that the monster -meant to convey when he said to Christine Daae: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -Yes, buried under the ruins of the Paris Grand Opera! - -The monster had given her until eleven o'clock in the evening. -He had chosen his time well. There would be many people, many -"members of the human race," up there, in the resplendent theater. -What finer retinue could be expected for his funeral? He would go -down to the tomb escorted by the whitest shoulders in the world, -decked with the richest jewels. - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -We were all to be blown up in the middle of the performance... -if Christine Daae said no! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!... - -And what else could Christine say but no? Would she not prefer -to espouse death itself rather than that living corpse? She did -not know that on her acceptance or refusal depended the awful fate -of many members of the human race! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -And we dragged ourselves through the darkness, feeling our way -to the stone steps, for the light in the trap-door overhead that -led to the room of mirrors was now extinguished; and we repeated -to ourselves: - -"Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!" - -At last, I found the staircase. But, suddenly I drew myself up -on the first step, for a terrible thought had come to my mind: - -"What is the time?" - -Ah, what was the time?...For, after all, eleven o'clock to-morrow -evening might be now, might be this very moment! Who could tell us -the time? We seemed to have been imprisoned in that hell for days -and days...for years...since the beginning of the world. -Perhaps we should be blown up then and there! Ah, a sound! A crack! -"Did you hear that?...There, in the corner...good heavens!... -Like a sound of machinery!...Again!...Oh, for a light!... -Perhaps it's the machinery that is to blow everything up!... -I tell you, a cracking sound: are you deaf?" - -M. de Chagny and I began to yell like madmen. Fear spurred us on. -We rushed up the treads of the staircase, stumbling as we went, -anything to escape the dark, to return to the mortal light of the room -of mirrors! - -We found the trap-door still open, but it was now as dark -in the room of mirrors as in the cellar which we had left. -We dragged ourselves along the floor of the torture-chamber, the floor -that separated us from the powder-magazine. What was the time? -We shouted, we called: M. de Chagny to Christine, I to Erik. -I reminded him that I had saved his life. But no answer, save that -of our despair, of our madness: what was the time? We argued, -we tried to calculate the time which we had spent there, but we were -incapable of reasoning. If only we could see the face of a watch!... -Mine had stopped, but M. de Chagny's was still going... -He told me that he had wound it up before dressing for the Opera.... -We had not a match upon us....And yet we must know.... -M. de Chagny broke the glass of his watch and felt the two hands. -...He questioned the hands of the watch with his finger-tips, -going by the position of the ring of the watch....Judging -by the space between the hands, he thought it might be just eleven -o'clock! - -But perhaps it was not the eleven o'clock of which we stood in dread. -Perhaps we had still twelve hours before us! - -Suddenly, I exclaimed: "Hush!" - -I seemed to hear footsteps in the next room. Some one tapped -against the wall. Christine Daae's voice said: - -"Raoul! Raoul!" We were now all talking at once, on either side -of the wall. Christine sobbed; she was not sure that she would -find M. de Chagny alive. The monster had been terrible, it seemed, -had done nothing but rave, waiting for her to give him the "yes" -which she refused. And yet she had promised him that "yes," if he -would take her to the torture-chamber. But he had obstinately declined, -and had uttered hideous threats against all the members of the -human race! At last, after hours and hours of that hell, he had -that moment gone out, leaving her alone to reflect for the last time. - -"Hours and hours? What is the time now? What is the time, Christine?" - -"It is eleven o'clock! Eleven o'clock, all but five minutes!" - -"But which eleven o'clock?" - -"The eleven o'clock that is to decide life or death!...He told me -so just before he went....He is terrible....He is quite mad: -he tore off his mask and his yellow eyes shot flames!...He did -nothing but laugh!...He said, `I give you five minutes to spare -your blushes! Here,' he said, taking a key from the little bag -of life and death, `here is the little bronze key that opens the two -ebony caskets on the mantelpiece in the Louis-Philippe room. -...In one of the caskets, you will find a scorpion, in the other, -a grasshopper, both very cleverly imitated in Japanese bronze: -they will say yes or no for you. If you turn the scorpion round, -that will mean to me, when I return, that you have said yes. -The grasshopper will mean no.' And he laughed like a drunken demon. -I did nothing but beg and entreat him to give me the key of -the torture-chamber, promising to be his wife if he granted me -that request....But he told me that there was no future need -for that key and that he was going to throw it into the lake!... -And he again laughed like a drunken demon and left me. Oh, his last -words were, `The grasshopper! Be careful of the grasshopper! -A grasshopper does not only turn: it hops! It hops! And it hops -jolly high!'" - -The five minutes had nearly elapsed and the scorpion and the grasshopper -were scratching at my brain. Nevertheless, I had sufficient -lucidity left to understand that, if the grasshopper were turned, -it would hop...and with it many members of the human race! -There was no doubt but that the grasshopper controlled an electric -current intended to blow up the powder-magazine! - -M. de Chagny, who seemed to have recovered all his moral force -from hearing Christine's voice, explained to her, in a few -hurried words, the situation in which we and all the Opera were. -He told her to turn the scorpion at once. - -There was a pause. - -"Christine," I cried, "where are you?" - -"By the scorpion." - -"Don't touch it!" - -The idea had come to me--for I knew my Erik--that the monster had -perhaps deceived the girl once more. Perhaps it was the scorpion -that would blow everything up. After all, why wasn't he there? -The five minutes were long past...and he was not back. -...Perhaps he had taken shelter and was waiting for the explosion! -...Why had he not returned?...He could not really expect -Christine ever to consent to become his voluntary prey!...Why -had he not returned? - -"Don't touch the scorpion!" I said. - -"Here he comes!" cried Christine. "I hear him! Here he is!" - -We heard his steps approaching the Louis-Philippe room. He came -up to Christine, but did not speak. Then I raised my voice: - -"Erik! It is I! Do you know me?" - -With extraordinary calmness, he at once replied: - -"So you are not dead in there? Well, then, see that you keep quiet." - -I tried to speak, but he said coldly: - -"Not a word, daroga, or I shall blow everything up." And he added, -"The honor rests with mademoiselle....Mademoiselle has not -touched the scorpion"--how deliberately he spoke!--"mademoiselle -has not touched the grasshopper"--with that composure!--"but it -is not too late to do the right thing. There, I open the caskets -without a key, for I am a trap-door lover and I open and shut -what I please and as I please. I open the little ebony caskets: -mademoiselle, look at the little dears inside. Aren't they pretty? -If you turn the grasshopper, mademoiselle, we shall all be blown up. -There is enough gun-powder under our feet to blow up a whole quarter -of Paris. If you turn the scorpion, mademoiselle, all that powder -will be soaked and drowned. Mademoiselle, to celebrate our wedding, -you shall make a very handsome present to a few hundred Parisians -who are at this moment applauding a poor masterpiece of Meyerbeer's -...you shall make them a present of their lives....For, -with your own fair hands, you shall turn the scorpion.... -And merrily, merrily, we will be married!" - -A pause; and then: - -"If, in two minutes, mademoiselle, you have not turned the scorpion, -I shall turn the grasshopper...and the grasshopper, I tell you, -HOPS JOLLY HIGH!" - -The terrible silence began anew. The Vicomte de Chagny, -realizing that there was nothing left to do but pray, went down -on his knees and prayed. As for me, my blood beat so fiercely -that I had to take my heart in both hands, lest it should burst. -At last, we heard Erik's voice: - -"The two minutes are past....Good-by, mademoiselle. -...Hop, grasshopper! "Erik," cried Christine, "do you swear -to me, monster, do you swear to me that the scorpion is the one to turn? - -"Yes, to hop at our wedding." - -"Ah, you see! You said, to hop!" - -"At our wedding, ingenuous child!...The scorpion opens the ball. -...But that will do!...You won't have the scorpion? Then I -turn the grasshopper!" - -"Erik!" - -"Enough!" - -I was crying out in concert with Christine. M. de Chagny was still -on his knees, praying. - -"Erik! I have turned the scorpion!" - -Oh, the second through which we passed! - -Waiting! Waiting to find ourselves in fragments, amid the roar -and the ruins! - -Feeling something crack beneath our feet, hearing an appalling hiss -through the open trap-door, a hiss like the first sound of a rocket! - -It came softly, at first, then louder, then very loud. But it -was not the hiss of fire. It was more like the hiss of water. -And now it became a gurgling sound: "Guggle! Guggle!" - -We rushed to the trap-door. All our thirst, which vanished when -the terror came, now returned with the lapping of the water. - -The water rose in the cellar, above the barrels, the powder-barrels--"Barrels! -...Barrels! Any barrels to sell?"--and we went down to it -with parched throats. It rose to our chins, to our mouths. -And we drank. We stood on the floor of the cellar and drank. And -we went up the stairs again in the dark, step by step, went up with the water. - -The water came out of the cellar with us and spread over the floor -of the room. If, this went on, the whole house on the lake would -be swamped. The, floor of the torture-chamber had itself become -a regular little lake, in which our feet splashed. Surely there -was water enough now! Erik must turn off the tap! - -"Erik! Erik! That is water enough for the gunpowder! Turn off -the tap! Turn off the scorpion!" - -But Erik did not reply. We heard nothing but the water rising: -it was half-way to our waists! - -"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny. "Christine! The water is up -to our knees!" - -But Christine did not reply....We heard nothing but the water rising. - -No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one -to turn the scorpion! - -We were all alone, in the dark, with the dark water that seized us -and clasped us and froze us! - -"Erik! Erik!" - -"Christine! Christine!" - -By this time, we had lost our foothold and were spinning round -in the water, carried away by an irresistible whirl, for the water -turned with us and dashed us against the dark mirror, which thrust -us back again; and our throats, raised above the whirlpool, -roared aloud. - -Were we to die here, drowned in the torture-chamber? I had never -seen that. Erik, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, -had never shown me that, through the little invisible window. - -"Erik! Erik!" I cried. "I saved your life! Remember!...You -were sentenced to death! But for me, you would be dead now!... -Erik!" - -We whirled around in the water like so much wreckage. -But, suddenly, my straying hands seized the trunk of the iron tree! -I called M. de Chagny, and we both hung to the branch of the iron tree. - -And the water rose still higher. - -"Oh! Oh! Can you remember? How much space is there between the branch -of the tree and the dome-shaped ceiling? Do try to remember!... -After all, the water may stop, it must find its level!...There, -I think it is stopping!...No, no, oh, horrible!...Swim! -Swim for your life!" - -Our arms became entangled in the effort of swimming; we choked; -we fought in the dark water; already we could hardly breathe the dark -air above the dark water, the air which escaped, which we could hear -escaping through some vent-hole or other. - -"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole -and then glue our mouths to it!" - -But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! -Oh, how those glass walls slipped from under my groping -fingers!...We whirled round again!...We began to sink! -...One last effort!...A last cry: "Erik!...Christine!..." - -"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the -bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!" - -And, before losing consciousness entirely, I seemed to hear, -between two guggles: - -"Barrels! Barrels! Any barrels to sell?" - - - -Chapter XXVI The End of the Ghost's Love Story - - -The previous chapter marks the conclusion of the written narrative -which the Persian left behind him. - -Notwithstanding the horrors of a situation which seemed definitely -to abandon them to their deaths, M. de Chagny and his companion -were saved by the sublime devotion of Christine Daae. And I -had the rest of the story from the lips of the daroga himself. - -When I went to see him, he was still living in his little flat -in the Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries. He was very ill, -and it required all my ardor as an historian pledged to the truth to -persuade him to live the incredible tragedy over again for my benefit. -His faithful old servant Darius showed me in to him. The daroga -received me at a window overlooking the garden of the Tuileries. -He still had his magnificent eyes, but his poor face looked very worn. -He had shaved the whole of his head, which was usually covered with -an astrakhan cap; he was dressed in a long, plain coat and amused -himself by unconsciously twisting his thumbs inside the sleeves; -but his mind was quite clear, and he told me his story with -perfect lucidity. - -It seems that, when he opened his eyes, the daroga found himself -lying on a bed. M. de Chagny was on a sofa, beside the wardrobe. -An angel and a devil were watching over them. - -After the deceptions and illusions of the torture-chamber, the precision -of the details of that quiet little middle-class room seemed to have -been invented for the express purpose of puzzling the mind of the -mortal rash enough to stray into that abode of living nightmare. -The wooden bedstead, the waxed mahogany chairs, the chest of drawers, -those brasses, the little square antimacassars carefully placed -on the backs of the chairs, the clock on the mantelpiece and the -harmless-looking ebony caskets at either end, lastly, the whatnot -filled with shells, with red pin-cushions, with mother-of-pearl boats -and an enormous ostrich-egg, the whole discreetly lighted by a shaded -lamp standing on a small round table: this collection of ugly, -peaceable, reasonable furniture, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OPERA CELLARS, -bewildered the imagination more than all the late fantastic happenings. - -And the figure of the masked man seemed all the more formidable -in this old-fashioned, neat and trim little frame. It bent down -over the Persian and said, in his ear: - -"Are you better, daroga?...You are looking at my furniture?... -It is all that I have left of my poor unhappy mother." - -Christine Daae did not say a word: she moved about noiselessly, -like a sister of charity, who had taken a vow of silence. -She brought a cup of cordial, or of hot tea, he did not remember which. -The man in the mask took it from her hands and gave it to the Persian. -M. de Chagny was still sleeping. - -Erik poured a drop of rum into the daroga's cup and, pointing to -the viscount, said: - -"He came to himself long before we knew if you were still alive, -daroga. He is quite well. He is asleep. We must not wake him." - -Erik left the room for a moment, and the Persian raised himself -on his elbow, looked around him and saw Christine Daae sitting -by the fireside. He spoke to her, called her, but he was -still very weak and fell back on his pillow. Christine came -to him, laid her hand on his forehead and went away again. -And the Persian remembered that, as she went, she did not give -a glance at M. de Chagny, who, it is true, was sleeping peacefully; -and she sat down again in her chair by the chimney-corner, -silent as a sister of charity who had taken a vow of silence. - -Erik returned with some little bottles which he placed on -the mantelpiece. And, again in a whisper, so as not to wake M. de -Chagny, he said to the Persian, after sitting down and feeling his pulse: - -"You are now saved, both of you. And soon I shall take you up -to the surface of the earth, TO PLEASE MY WIFE." - -Thereupon he rose, without any further explanation, and disappeared -once more. - -The Persian now looked at Christine's quiet profile under the lamp. -She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book. -There are editions of THE IMITATION that look like that. The Persian -still had in his ears the natural tone in which the other had said, -"to please my wife." Very gently, he called her again; but Christine -was wrapped up in her book and did not hear him. - -Erik returned, mixed the daroga a draft and advised him not to speak to -"his wife" again nor to any one, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUS -TO EVERYBODY'S HEALTH. - -Eventually, the Persian fell asleep, like M. de Chagny, and did not -wake until he was in his own room, nursed by his faithful Darius, -who told him that, on the night before, he was found propped against -the door of his flat, where he had been brought by a stranger, -who rang the bell before going away. - -As soon as the daroga recovered his strength and his wits, he sent -to Count Philippe's house to inquire after the viscount's health. -The answer was that the young man had not been seen and that Count -Philippe was dead. His body was found on the bank of the Opera lake, -on the Rue-Scribe side. The Persian remembered the requiem mass -which he had heard from behind the wall of the torture-chamber, -and had no doubt concerning the crime and the criminal. -Knowing Erik as he did, he easily reconstructed the tragedy. -Thinking that his brother had run away with Christine Daae, -Philippe had dashed in pursuit of him along the Brussels Road, -where he knew that everything was prepared for the elopement. -Failing to find the pair, he hurried back to the Opera, remembered -Raoul's strange confidence about his fantastic rival and learned -that the viscount had made every effort to enter the cellars of -the theater and that he had disappeared, leaving his hat in the prima -donna's dressing-room beside an empty pistol-case. And the count, -who no longer entertained any doubt of his brother's madness, in his -turn darted into that infernal underground maze. This was enough, -in the Persian's eyes, to explain the discovery of the Comte -de Chagny's corpse on the shore of the lake, where the siren, -Erik's siren, kept watch. - -The Persian did not hesitate. He determined to inform the police. -Now the case was in the hands of an examining-magistrate called Faure, -an incredulous, commonplace, superficial sort of person, (I write -as I think), with a mind utterly unprepared to receive a confidence -of this kind. M. Faure took down the daroga's depositions and -proceeded to treat him as a madman. - -Despairing of ever obtaining a hearing, the Persian sat down to write. -As the police did not want his evidence, perhaps the press would be -glad of it; and he had just written the last line of the narrative -I have quoted in the preceding chapters, when Darius announced -the visit of a stranger who refused his name, who would not show -his face and declared simply that he did not intend to leave -the place until he had spoken to the daroga. - -The Persian at once felt who his singular visitor was and ordered -him to be shown in. The daroga was right. It was the ghost, -it was Erik! - -He looked extremely weak and leaned against the wall, as though he -were afraid of falling. Taking off his hat, he revealed a forehead -white as wax. The rest of the horrible face was hidden by the mask. - -The Persian rose to his feet as Erik entered. - -"Murderer of Count Philippe, what have you done with his brother -and Christine Daae?" - -Erik staggered under this direct attack, kept silent for a moment, -dragged himself to a chair and heaved a deep sigh. Then, speaking in -short phrases and gasping for breath between the words: - -"Daroga, don't talk to me...about Count Philippe....He was dead... -by the time...I left my house...he was dead... when... -the siren sang....It was an...accident...a sad...a very sad -...accident. He fell very awkwardly... but simply and naturally... -into the lake!..." - -"You lie!" shouted the Persian. - -Erik bowed his head and said: - -"I have not come here...to talk about Count Philippe... -but to tell you that...I am going...to die. ..." - -"Where are Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"I am going to die. - -"Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"Of love...daroga...I am dying...of love...That is how it is.... -loved her so!...And I love her still...daroga...and I am dying -of love for her, I...I tell you!...If you knew how beautiful she was... -when she let me kiss her...alive...It was the first...time, daroga, -the first...time I ever kissed a woman.... Yes, alive....I kissed her alive -...and she looked as beautiful as if she had been dead! - -The Persian shook Erik by the arm: - -"Will you tell me if she is alive or dead." - -"Why do you shake me like that?" asked Erik, making an effort -to speak more connectedly. "I tell you that I am going to die. -...Yes, I kissed her alive...." - -"And now she is dead?" - -"I tell you I kissed her just like that, on her forehead... -and she did not draw back her forehead from my lips!...Oh, -she is a good girl!...As to her being dead, I don't think so; -but it has nothing to do with me....No, no, she is not dead! -And no one shall touch a hair of her head! She is a good, -honest girl, and she saved your life, daroga, at a moment when I -would not have given twopence for your Persian skin. As a matter -of fact, nobody bothered about you. Why were you there with -that little chap? You would have died as well as he! My word, -how she entreated me for her little chap! But I told her that, -as she had turned the scorpion, she had, through that very fact, -and of her own free will, become engaged to me and that she did -not need to have two men engaged to her, which was true enough. - -"As for you, you did not exist, you had ceased to exist, I tell you, -and you were going to die with the other!...Only, mark me, -daroga, when you were yelling like the devil, because of the water, -Christine came to me with her beautiful blue eyes wide open, and swore -to me, as she hoped to be saved, that she consented to be MY LIVING -WIFE!...Until then, in the depths of her eyes, daroga, I had -always seen my dead wife; it was the first time I saw MY LIVING -WIFE there. She was sincere, as she hoped to be saved. She would -not kill herself. It was a bargain....Half a minute later, -all the water was back in the lake; and I had a hard job with you, -daroga, for, upon my honor, I thought you were done for!... -However!...There you were!...It was understood that I was -to take you both up to the surface of the earth. When, at last, -I cleared the Louis-Philippe room of you, I came back alone...." - -"What have you done with the Vicomte de Chagny?" asked the Persian, -interrupting him. - -"Ah, you see, daroga, I couldn't carry HIM up like that, at once. -...He was a hostage....But I could not keep him in the house on -the lake, either, because of Christine; so I locked him up comfortably, -I chained him up nicely--a whiff of the Mazenderan scent had left him -as limp as a rag--in the Communists' dungeon, which is in the most -deserted and remote part of the Opera, below the fifth cellar, -where no one ever comes, and where no one ever hears you. -Then I came back to Christine, she was waiting for me. - -Erik here rose solemnly. Then he continued, but, as he spoke, -he was overcome by all his former emotion and began to tremble -like a leaf: - -"Yes, she was waiting for me...waiting for me erect and alive, -a real, living bride...as she hoped to be saved....And, -when I...came forward, more timid than...a little child, -she did not run away...no, no...she stayed...she waited -for me....I even believe...daroga...that she put out -her forehead...a little...oh, not much...just a little... -like a living bride....And...and...I...kissed her!... -I!...I!...I!...And she did not die!...Oh, how good it is, -daroga, to kiss somebody on the forehead!...You can't tell!... -But I! I!...My mother, daroga, my poor, unhappy mother would never -...let me kiss her....She used to run away...and throw me my mask! -...Nor any other woman...ever, ever!...Ah, you can understand, -my happiness was so great, I cried. And I fell at her feet, crying -...and I kissed her feet...her little feet...crying. You're crying, too, -daroga...and she cried also...the angel cried!..." Erik -sobbed aloud and the Persian himself could not retain his tears -in the presence of that masked man, who, with his shoulders shaking -and his hands clutched at his chest, was moaning with pain and love -by turns. - -"Yes, daroga...I felt her tears flow on my forehead...on mine, -mine!...They were soft...they were sweet!...They trickled -under my mask...they mingled with my tears in my eyes...yes -...they flowed between my lips....Listen, daroga, listen to -what I did....I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her -tears...and she did not run away!...And she did not die!... -She remained alive, weeping over me, with me. We cried together! -I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer!" - -And Erik fell into a chair, choking for breath: - -"Ah, I am not going to die yet...presently I shall...but let -me cry!...Listen, daroga...listen to this....While -I was at her feet...I heard her say, `Poor, unhappy Erik!' -... AND SHE TOOK MY HAND!...I had become no more, you know, -than a poor dog ready to die for her....I mean it, daroga!... -I held in my hand a ring, a plain gold ring which I had given her -...which she had lost...and which I had found again... -a wedding-ring, you know....I slipped it into her little hand -and said, `There!...Take it!...Take it for you...and him! -...It shall be my wedding-present a present from your poor, -unhappy Erik.....I know you love the boy...don't cry any more! -...She asked me, in a very soft voice, what I meant.... -Then I made her understand that, where she was concerned, -I was only a poor dog, ready to die for her...but that she could -marry the young man when she pleased, because she had cried with me -and mingled her tears with mine!..." - -Erik's emotion was so great that he had to tell the Persian not -to look at him, for he was choking and must take off his mask. -The daroga went to the window and opened it. His heart was full -of pity, but he took care to keep his eyes fixed on the trees in -the Tuileries gardens, lest he should see the monster's face. - -"I went and released the young man," Erik continued, "and told -him to come with me to Christine....They kissed before me -in the Louis-Philippe room....Christine had my ring.... -I made Christine swear to come back, one night, when I was dead, -crossing the lake from the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest -secrecy with the gold ring, which she was to wear until that moment. -...I told her where she would find my body and what to do with it. -...Then Christine kissed me, for the first time, herself, here, -on the forehead--don't look, daroga!--here, on the forehead...on -my forehead, mine--don't look, daroga!--and they went off together. -...Christine had stopped crying....I alone cried....Daroga, daroga, -if Christine keeps her promise, she will come back soon!..." - -The Persian asked him no questions. He was quite reassured -as to the fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could -have doubted the word of the weeping Erik that night. - -The monster resumed his mask and collected his strength to leave -the daroga. He told him that, when he felt his end to be very -near at hand, he would send him, in gratitude for the kindness -which the Persian had once shown him, that which he held dearest -in the world: all Christine Daae's papers, which she had written -for Raoul's benefit and left with Erik, together with a few -objects belonging to her, such as a pair of gloves, a shoe-buckle -and two pocket-handkerchiefs. In reply to the Persian's questions, -Erik told him that the two young people, at soon as they found -themselves free, had resolved to go and look for a priest in some -lonely spot where they could hide their happiness and that, -with this object in view, they had started from "the northern -railway station of the world." Lastly, Erik relied on the Persian, -as soon as he received the promised relics and papers, to inform -the young couple of his death and to advertise it in the EPOQUE. - -That was all. The Persian saw Erik to the door of his flat, -and Darius helped him down to the street. A cab was waiting for him. -Erik stepped in; and the Persian, who had gone back to the window, -heard him say to the driver: - -"Go to the Opera." - -And the cab drove off into the night. - -The Persian had seen the poor, unfortunate Erik for the last time. -Three weeks later, the Epoque published this advertisement: - -"Erik is dead." - - - -Epilogue. - - -I have now told the singular, but veracious story of the Opera ghost. -As I declared on the first page of this work, it is no longer possible -to deny that Erik really lived. There are to-day so many proofs -of his existence within the reach of everybody that we can follow -Erik's actions logically through the whole tragedy of the Chagnys. - -There is no need to repeat here how greatly the case excited the capital. -The kidnapping of the artist, the death of the Comte de Chagny -under such exceptional conditions, the disappearance of his brother, -the drugging of the gas-man at the Opera and of his two assistants: -what tragedies, what passions, what crimes had surrounded the idyll -of Raoul and the sweet and charming Christine!...What had become -of that wonderful, mysterious artist of whom the world was never, -never to hear again?...She was represented as the victim of a -rivalry between the two brothers; and nobody suspected what had -really happened, nobody understood that, as Raoul and Christine -had both disappeared, both had withdrawn far from the world to -enjoy a happiness which they would not have cared to make public -after the inexplicable death of Count Philippe....They took -the train one day from "the northern railway station of the world." -...Possibly, I too shall take the train at that station, one day, -and go and seek around thy lakes, O Norway, O silent Scandinavia, -for the perhaps still living traces of Raoul and Christine and also -of Mamma Valerius, who disappeared at the same time!...Possibly, -some day, I shall hear the lonely echoes of the North repeat -the singing of her who knew the Angel of Music!... - -Long after the case was pigeonholed by the unintelligent care -of M. le Juge d'Instruction Faure, the newspapers made efforts, -at intervals, to fathom the mystery. One evening paper alone, -which knew all the gossip of the theaters, said: - -"We recognize the touch of the Opera ghost." - -And even that was written by way of irony. - -The Persian alone knew the whole truth and held the main proofs, -which came to him with the pious relics promised by the ghost. It fell -to my lot to complete those proofs with the aid of the daroga himself. -Day by day, I kept him informed of the progress of my inquiries; -and he directed them. He had not been to the Opera for years and years, -but he had preserved the most accurate recollection of the building, -and there was no better guide than he possible to help me discover -its most secret recesses. He also told me where to gather further -information, whom to ask; and he sent me to call on M. Poligny, -at a moment when the poor man was nearly drawing his last breath. -I had no idea that he was so very ill, and I shall never forget -the effect which my questions about the ghost produced upon him. -He looked at me as if I were the devil and answered only in a few -incoherent sentences, which showed, however--and that was the main thing-- -the extent of the perturbation which O. G., in his time, had brought -into that already very restless life (for M. Poligny was what people -call a man of pleasure). - -When I came and told the Persian of the poor result of my visit -to M. Poligny, the daroga gave a faint smile and said: - -"Poligny never knew how far that extraordinary blackguard of an Erik -humbugged him."--The Persian, by the way, spoke of Erik sometimes -as a demigod and sometimes as the lowest of the low--"Poligny -was superstitious and Erik knew it. Erik knew most things about -the public and private affairs of the Opera. When M. Poligny heard -a mysterious voice tell him, in Box Five, of the manner in which he -used to spend his time and abuse his partner's confidence, he did -not wait to hear any more. Thinking at first that it was a voice -from Heaven, he believed himself damned; and then, when the voice -began to ask for money, he saw that he was being victimized by a -shrewd blackmailer to whom Debienne himself had fallen a prey. -Both of them, already tired of management for various reasons, -went away without trying to investigate further into the personality -of that curious O. G., who had forced such a singular memorandum-book -upon them. They bequeathed the whole mystery to their successors -and heaved a sigh of relief when they were rid of a business -that had puzzled them without amusing them in the least." - -I then spoke of the two successors and expressed my surprise that, -in his Memoirs of a Manager, M. Moncharmin should describe the Opera -ghost's behavior at such length in the first part of the book and hardly -mention it at all in the second. In reply to this, the Persian, -who knew the MEMOIRS as thoroughly as if he had written them himself, -observed that I should find the explanation of the whole business -if I would just recollect the few lines which Moncharmin devotes -to the ghost in the second part aforesaid. I quote these lines, -which are particularly interesting because they describe the very -simple manner in which the famous incident of the twenty-thousand -francs was closed: - -"As for O. G., some of whose curious tricks I have related in the -first part of my Memoirs, I will only say that he redeemed by one -spontaneous fine action all the worry which he had caused my dear -friend and partner and, I am bound to say, myself. He felt, no doubt, -that there are limits to a joke, especially when it is so expensive -and when the commissary of police has been informed, for, at the moment -when we had made an appointment in our office with M. Mifroid to tell him -the whole story, a few days after the disappearance of Christine Daae, -we found, on Richard's table, a large envelope, inscribed, in red ink, -"WITH O. G.'S COMPLIMENTS." It contained the large sum of money -which he had succeeded in playfully extracting, for the time being, -from the treasury. Richard was at once of the opinion that we must -be content with that and drop the business. I agreed with Richard. -All's well that ends well. What do you say, O. G.?" - -Of course, Moncharmin, especially after the money had been restored, -continued to believe that he had, for a short while, been the butt -of Richard's sense of humor, whereas Richard, on his side, -was convinced that Moncharmin had amused himself by inventing -the whole of the affair of the Opera ghost, in order to revenge -himself for a few jokes. - -I asked the Persian to tell me by what trick the ghost had taken -twenty-thousand francs from Richard's pocket in spite of the -safety-pin. He replied that he had not gone into this little detail, -but that, if I myself cared to make an investigation on the spot, -I should certainly find the solution to the riddle in the managers' -office by remembering that Erik had not been nicknamed the trap-door -lover for nothing. I promised the Persian to do so as soon as I -had time, and I may as well tell the reader at once that the results -of my investigation were perfectly satisfactory; and I hardly -believed that I should ever discover so many undeniable proofs -of the authenticity of the feats ascribed to the ghost. - -The Persian's manuscript, Christine Daae's papers, the statements made -to me by the people who used to work under MM. Richard and Moncharmin, -by little Meg herself (the worthy Madame Giry, I am sorry to say, is no more) -and by Sorelli, who is now living in retirement at Louveciennes: -all the documents relating to the existence of the ghost, which I -propose to deposit in the archives of the Opera, have been checked -and confirmed by a number of important discoveries of which I am -justly proud. I have not been able to find the house on the lake, -Erik having blocked up all the secret entrances.[12] On the other hand, -I have discovered the secret passage of the Communists, the planking -of which is falling to pieces in parts, and also the trap-door -through which Raoul and the Persian penetrated into the cellars -of the opera-house. In the Communists' dungeon, I noticed numbers of -initials traced on the walls by the unfortunate people confined in it; -and among these were an "R" and a "C." R. C.: Raoul de Chagny. -The letters are there to this day. - ----- -[12] Even so, I am convinced that it would be easy to reach it -by draining the lake, as I have repeatedly requested the Ministry -of Fine Arts to do. I was speaking about it to M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, -the under-secretary for fine arts, only forty-eight hours before -the publication of this book. Who knows but that the score of DON -JUAN TRIUMPHANT might yet be discovered in the house on the lake? - -If the reader will visit the Opera one morning and ask leave to stroll -where he pleases, without being accompanied by a stupid guide, -let him go to Box Five and knock with his fist or stick on -the enormous column that separates this from the stage-box. He -will find that the column sounds hollow. After that, do not be -astonished by the suggestion that it was occupied by the voice -of the ghost: there is room inside the column for two men. -If you are surprised that, when the various incidents occurred, -no one turned round to look at the column, you must remember -that it presented the appearance of solid marble, and that -the voice contained in it seemed rather to come from the opposite -side, for, as we have seen, the ghost was an expert ventriloquist. - -The column was elaborately carved and decorated with the -sculptor's chisel; and I do not despair of one day discovering -the ornament that could be raised or lowered at will, so as to admit -of the ghost's mysterious correspondence with Mme. Giry and of his generosity. - -However, all these discoveries are nothing, to my mind, compared with -that which I was able to make, in the presence of the acting-manager, -in the managers' office, within a couple of inches from the desk-chair, -and which consisted of a trap-door, the width of a board in the flooring -and the length of a man's fore-arm and no longer; a trap-door that -falls back like the lid of a box; a trap-door through which I can -see a hand come and dexterously fumble at the pocket of a swallow-tail coat. - -That is the way the forty-thousand francs went!.... And that also -is the way by which, through some trick or other, they were returned. - -Speaking about this to the Persian, I said: - -"So we may take it, as the forty-thousand francs were returned, -that Erik was simply amusing himself with that memorandum-book -of his?" - -"Don't you believe it!" he replied. "Erik wanted money. Thinking himself -without the pale of humanity, he was restrained by no scruples and -he employed his extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination, -which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary -uglinesss, to prey upon his fellow-men. His reason for restoring -the forty-thousand francs, of his own accord, was that he no longer -wanted it. He had relinquished his marriage with Christine Daae. -He had relinquished everything above the surface of the earth." - -According to the Persian's account, Erik was born in a small town -not far from Rouen. He was the son of a master-mason. He ran away at -an early age from his father's house, where his ugliness was a subject -of horror and terror to his parents. For a time, he frequented -the fairs, where a showman exhibited him as the "living corpse." -He seems to have crossed the whole of Europe, from fair to fair, -and to have completed his strange education as an artist and magician -at the very fountain-head of art and magic, among the Gipsies. -A period of Erik's life remained quite obscure. He was seen at the fair -of Nijni-Novgorod, where he displayed himself in all his hideous glory. -He already sang as nobody on this earth had ever sung before; he practised -ventriloquism and gave displays of legerdemain so extraordinary -that the caravans returning to Asia talked about it during the whole -length of their journey. In this way, his reputation penetrated -the walls of the palace at Mazenderan, where the little sultana, -the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. -A dealer in furs, returning to Samarkand from Nijni-Novgorod, -told of the marvels which he had seen performed in Erik's tent. -The trader was summoned to the palace and the daroga of Mazenderan -was told to question him. Next the daroga was instructed to go -and find Erik. He brought him to Persia, where for some months -Erik's will was law. He was guilty of not a few horrors, for he -seemed not to know the difference between good and evil. He took -part calmly in a number of political assassinations; and he turned -his diabolical inventive powers against the Emir of Afghanistan, -who was at war with the Persian empire. The Shah took a liking -to him. - -This was the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, of which the daroga's -narrative has given us a glimpse. Erik had very original ideas on -the subject of architecture and thought out a palace much as a conjuror -contrives a trick-casket. The Shah ordered him to construct an edifice -of this kind. Erik did so; and the building appears to have been -so ingenious that His Majesty was able to move about in it unseen and -to disappear without a possibility of the trick's being discovered. -When the Shah-in-Shah found himself the possessor of this gem, -he ordered Erik's yellow eyes to be put out. But he reflected that, -even when blind, Erik would still be able to build so remarkable -a house for another sovereign; and also that, as long as Erik -was alive, some one would know the secret of the wonderful palace. -Erik's death was decided upon, together with that of all the laborers -who had worked under his orders. The execution of this abominable -decree devolved upon the daroga of Mazenderan. Erik had shown -him some slight services and procured him many a hearty laugh. -He saved Erik by providing him with the means of escape, but nearly -paid with his head for his generous indulgence. - -Fortunately for the daroga, a corpse, half-eaten by the birds -of prey, was found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and was taken -for Erik's body, because the daroga's friends had dressed the remains -in clothing that belonged to Erik. The daroga was let off with -the loss of the imperial favor, the confiscation of his property -and an order of perpetual banishment. As a member of the Royal House, -however, he continued to receive a monthly pension of a few hundred -francs from the Persian treasury; and on this he came to live in Paris. - -As for Erik, he went to Asia Minor and thence to Constantinople, -where he entered the Sultan's employment. In explanation of the services -which he was able to render a monarch haunted by perpetual terrors, -I need only say that it was Erik who constructed all the famous trap-doors -and secret chambers and mysterious strong-boxes which were found -at Yildiz-Kiosk after the last Turkish revolution. He also invented -those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the Sultan in -all respects,[13] which made people believe that the Commander of the -Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he was asleep elsewhere. - ----- -[13] See the interview of the special correspondent of the MATIN, -with Mohammed-Ali Bey, on the day after the entry of the Salonika -troops into Constantinople. - -Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons -that made him fly from Persia: he knew too much. Then, tired of -his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some -one "like everybody else." And he became a contractor, like any -ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. -He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. -His estimate was accepted. When he found himself in the cellars -of the enormous playhouse, his artistic, fantastic, wizard nature -resumed the upper hand. Besides, was he not as ugly as ever? -He dreamed of creating for his own use a dwelling unknown -to the rest of the earth, where he could hide from men's eyes for all time. - -The reader knows and guesses the rest. It is all in keeping with -this incredible and yet veracious story. Poor, unhappy Erik! -Shall we pity him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be "some one," -like everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his -genius OR USE IT TO PLAY TRICKS WITH, when, with an ordinary face, -he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had -a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, -he had to content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must needs -pity the Opera ghost. - -I have prayed over his mortal remains, that God might show him -mercy notwithstanding his crimes. Yes, I am sure, quite sure -that I prayed beside his body, the other day, when they took it -from the spot where they were burying the phonographic records. -It was his skeleton. I did not recognize it by the ugliness of the head, -for all men are ugly when they have been dead as long as that, -but by the plain gold ring which he wore and which Christine Daae -had certainly slipped on his finger, when she came to bury him -in accordance with her promise. - -The skeleton was lying near the little well, in the place where the Angel -of Music first held Christine Daae fainting in his trembling arms, -on the night when he carried her down to the cellars of the opera-house. - -And, now, what do they mean to do with that skeleton? Surely they -will not bury it in the common grave!...I say that the place -of the skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National -Academy of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton. - - - -THE END - - - -The Paris Opera House - - -THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" - -That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris -Opera House as it really is and has not created a building out -of his imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it -taken from an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, -a short time after the building was completed: - -"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under -the Republic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world -and in many respects the most beautiful. No European capital -possesses an opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, -and none can boast an edifice equally vast and splendid. - -"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined -to lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was -well known that water would be met with, but it was impossible -to foresee at what depth or in what quantity it would be found. -Exceptional depth also was necessary, as the stage arrangements -were to be such as to admit a scene fifty feet high to be lowered -on its frame. It was therefore necessary to lay a foundation -in a soil soaked with water which should be sufficiently solid -to sustain a weight of 22,000,000 pounds, and at the same time to be -perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for the storage -of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, -the excavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, -worked by steam power, and in operation, without interruption, -day and night, from March second to October thirteenth. The floor -of the cellar was covered with a layer of concrete, then with two -coats of cement, another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. -The wall includes an outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, -a coat of cement, and a wall proper, a little over a yard thick. -After all this was done the whole was filled with water, in order -that the fluid, by penetrating into the most minute interstices, -might deposit a sediment which would close them more surely and -perfectly than it would be possible to do by hand. Twelve years -elapsed before the completion of the building, and during that time -it was demonstrated that the precautions taken secured absolute -impermeability and solidity. - -"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to be -prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put -to new and unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted -into a vast military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous -mass of goods. After the siege the building fell into the hands -of the Commune and the roof was turned into a balloon station. -The damage done, however, was slight. - -"The fine stone employed in the construction was brought from -quarries in Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland, Spain, -Belgium and France. While work on the exterior was in progress, -the building was covered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent -by thousands of small panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, -supplied with hammers and axes, stripped the house of its habit, -and showed in all its splendor the great structure. No picture can -do justice to the rich colors of the edifice or to the harmonious -tone resulting from the skilful use of many diverse materials. -The effect of the frontage is completed by the cupola of the auditorium, -topped with a cap of bronze sparingly adorned with gilding. -Farther on, on a level with the towers of Notre-Dame, is the gable -end of the roof of the stage, a `Pegasus', by M. Lequesne, -rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group by M. Millet, -representing `Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commanding the apex. -Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well as ornamental, -for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does duty as a -lightning-rod, and conducts the fluid to the body and down the nether -limbs of the god. - -"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left behind him a gateway, -reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, -and Handel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to a second vestibule -for ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion reserved for -carriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are situated. -The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium, -traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. -The ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted -columns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico. -Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain -until their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is -quite distinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. -The section of the building set aside for the use of the Emperor -Napoleon was to have included an antechamber for the bodyguards; -a salon for the aides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one -for the Empress; hat and cloak rooms, etc. Moreover, there were -to be in close proximity to the entrance, stables for three coaches, -for the outriders' horses, and for the twenty-one horsemen acting -as an escort; a station for a squad of infantry of thirty-one men -and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the horses of the latter; -and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty domestics. Thus arrangements -had to be made to accommodate in this part of the building about -one hundred persons, fifty horses, and half-a-dozen carriages. -The fall of the Empire suggested some changes, but ample provision -still exists for emergencies. - -"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare splendor of material, -make the grand stairway unquestionably one of the most remarkable -features of the building. It presents to the spectator, who has -just passed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture. -From this point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing; -this and the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, -are honeycombed with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; -the steps are of white marble, and antique red marble balusters -rest on green marble sockets and support a balustrade of onyx. -To the right and to the left of this landing are stairways to the floor, -on a plane with the first row of boxes. On this floor stand thirty -monolith columns of Sarrancolin marble, with white marble bases -and capitals. Pilasters of peach-blossom and violet stone are against -the corresponding walls. More than fifty blocks had to be extracted -from the quarry to find thirty perfect monoliths. - -"The foyer de la danse has particular interest for the habitues -of the Opera. It is a place of reunion to which subscribers to three -performances a week are admitted between the acts in accordance -with a usage established in 1870. Three immense looking-glasses -cover the back wall of the FOYER, and a chandelier with one -hundred and seven burners supplies it with light. The paintings -include twenty oval medallions, in which are portrayed the twenty -danseuses of most celebrity since the opera has existed in France, -and four panels by M. Boulanger, typifying `The War Dance', `The -Rustic Dance', `The Dance of Love' and `The Bacchic Dance.' -While the ladies of the ballet receive their admirers in this foyer, -they can practise their steps. Velvet-cushioned bars have to this -end been secured at convenient points, and the floor has been given -the same slope as that of the stage, so that the labor expended -may be thoroughly profitable to the performance. The singers' foyer, -on the same floor, is a much less lively resort than the -foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leave their dressing-rooms -before they are summoned to the stage. Thirty panels with portraits -of the artists of repute in the annals of the Opera adorn this foyer. - -"Some estimate...may be arrived at by sitting before the concierge -an hour or so before the representation commences. First appear -the stage carpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes, -when L'Africaine, for example, with its ship scene, is the opera, -one hundred and ten strong. Then come stage upholsterers, -whose sole duty is to lay carpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and -a squad of firemen. Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, -coiffeurs, supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries -number about one hundred; some are hired by the year, but the -`masses' are generally recruited at the last minute and are -generally working-men who seek to add to their meagre earnings. -There are about a hundred choristers, and about eighty musicians. - -"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted on the stage by means -of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producing batteries; -hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works in ballets like La Source; -artificers who prepare the conflagration in Le Profeta; florists who -make ready Margarita's garden, and a host of minor employees. -This personnel is provided for as follows: Eighty dressing-rooms -are reserved for the artists, each including a small antechamber, -the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besides these apartments, -the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, and another for -fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four male dancers; -four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of different grades; -a dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries, etc." - -A few figures taken from the article will suggest the enormous -capacity and the perfect convenience of the house. "There are -2,531 doors and 7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house; -the gaspipes if connected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; -9 reservoirs, and two tanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and -distribute their contents through 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; -538 persons have places assigned wherein to change their attire. -The musicians have a foyer with 100 closets for their instruments." - -The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that it "was -almost as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways and -colossal halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, -satin and velvet, met the eye at every turn." - -In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable pictures -illustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera House -and mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitan -railway tunnels, one on top of the other. - - - - - -"End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Phantom of the Opera" - diff --git a/old/phant11.zip b/old/phant11.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6c9a33b..0000000 --- a/old/phant11.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/phant12.txt b/old/phant12.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 004a582..0000000 --- a/old/phant12.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10984 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux -#1 in our series by Gaston Leroux - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the -copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing -this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. - -This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project -Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the -header without written permission. - -Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the -eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is -important information about your specific rights and restrictions in -how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a -donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** - - -Title: The Phantom of the Opera - -Author: Gaston Leroux - -Release Date: Halloween, 1994 [EBook #175] -[This file was last updated on March 28, 2002] - -Edition: 11 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA *** - - -This etext was prepared with the use of Calera WordScan Plus 2.0 -donated by: - -Calera Recognition Systems -475 Potrero -Sunnyvale, CA 94086 -1-408-720-8300 -mikel@calera.com Mike Lynch - - - - -The footnotes have been incrementally numbered in [ ] marks, -and placed after the paragraph in which they appear - - - - - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux -Author of "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" and -"The Perfume of the Lady in Black" - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - - - - -Contents - -Chapter - PROLOGUE -I IS IT A GHOST? -II THE NEW MARGARITA -III THE MYSTERIOUS REASON -IV BOX FIVE -V THE ENCHANTED VIOLIN -VI A VISIT TO BOX FIVE -VII FAUST AND WHAT FOLLOWED -VIII THE MYSTERIOUS BROUGHAM -IX AT THE MASKED BALL -X FORGET THE NAME OF THE MAN'S VOICE -XI ABOVE THE TRAP-DOORS -XII APOLLO'S LYRE -XIII A MASTER-STROKE OF THE TRAP-DOOR LOVER -XIV THE SINGULAR ATTITUDE OF A SAFETY-PIN -XV CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE! -XVI MME. GIRY'S REVELATIONS -XVII THE SAFETY-PIN AGAIN -XVIII THE COMMISSARY, THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN -XIX THE VISCOUNT AND THE PERSIAN -XX IN THE CELLARS OF THE OPERA -XXI INTERESTING VICISSITUDES -XXII IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER -XXIII THE TORTURES BEGIN -XXIV BARRELS! BARRELS! -XXV THE SCORPION OR THE GRASSHOPPER: WHICH -XXVI THE END OF THE GHOST'S LOVE STORY - EPILOGUE - -{plus a "bonus chapter" called "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE"} - - - - - -The Phantom of the Opera - - - - -Prologue - - -IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS SINGULAR WORK INFORMS THE READER HOW -HE ACQUIRED THE CERTAINTY THAT THE OPERA GHOST REALLY EXISTED - -The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, -a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of -the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains -of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, -the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed -in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance -of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. - -When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of -Music I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between -the phenomena ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary -and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; -and I soon conceived the idea that this tragedy might reasonably -be explained by the phenomena in question. The events do not -date more than thirty years back; and it would not be difficult -to find at the present day, in the foyer of the ballet, old men -of the highest respectability, men upon whose word one could -absolutely rely, who would remember as though they happened yesterday -the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended the kidnapping -of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny -and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body -was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars -of the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses -had until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting -the more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that -terrible story. - -The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an inquiry that -at every moment was complicated by events which, at first sight, -might be looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was -within an ace of abandoning a task in which I was exhausting -myself in the hopeless pursuit of a vain image. At last, -I received the proof that my presentiments had not deceived me, -and I was rewarded for all my efforts on the day when I acquired -the certainty that the Opera ghost was more than a mere shade. - -On that day, I had spent long hours over THE MEMOIRS OF A MANAGER, -the light and frivolous work of the too-skeptical Moncharmin, who, -during his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious -behavior of the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he -could at the very moment when he became the first victim of the -curious financial operation that went on inside the "magic envelope." - -I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful -acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing -with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced -me gaily. The acting-manager knew all about my investigations -and how eagerly and unsuccessfully I had been trying to discover -the whereabouts of the examining magistrate in the famous Chagny case, -M. Faure. Nobody knew what had become of him, alive or dead; -and here he was back from Canada, where he had spent fifteen years, -and the first thing he had done, on his return to Paris, was to come -to the secretarial offices at the Opera and ask for a free seat. -The little old man was M. Faure himself. - -We spent a good part of the evening together and he told me the whole -Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. He was bound to -conclude in favor of the madness of the viscount and the accidental -death of the elder brother, for lack of evidence to the contrary; -but he was nevertheless persuaded that a terrible tragedy had taken -place between the two brothers in connection with Christine Daae. -He could not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. -When I mentioned the ghost, he only laughed. He, too, had been told -of the curious manifestations that seemed to point to the existence -of an abnormal being, residing in one of the most mysterious -corners of the Opera, and he knew the story of the envelope; -but he had never seen anything in it worthy of his attention -as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case, and it was as much -as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness who appeared -of his own accord and declared that he had often met the ghost. -This witness was none other than the man whom all Paris called the -"Persian" and who was well-known to every subscriber to the Opera. -The magistrate took him for a visionary. - -I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. I wanted, -if there were still time, to find this valuable and eccentric witness. -My luck began to improve and I discovered him in his little flat -in the Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died -five months after my visit. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; -but when the Persian had told me, with child-like candor, -all that he knew about the ghost and had handed me the proofs -of the ghost's existence--including the strange correspondence -of Christine Daae--to do as I pleased with, I was no longer able -to doubt. No, the ghost was not a myth! - -I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been -forged from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly -been fed on the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered -some of Christine's writing outside the famous bundle of letters and, -on a comparison between the two, all my doubts were removed. -I also went into the past history of the Persian and found that he -was an upright man, incapable of inventing a story that might have -defeated the ends of justice. - -This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, -at one time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were -friends of the Chagny family, to whom I showed all my documents -and set forth all my inferences. In this connection, I should -like to print a few lines which I received from General D------: - -SIR: - -I can not urge you too strongly to publish the results of your inquiry. -I remember perfectly that, a few weeks before the disappearance -of that great singer, Christine Daae, and the tragedy which -threw the whole of the Faubourg Saint-Germain into mourning, -there was a great deal of talk, in the foyer of the ballet, -on the subject of the "ghost;" and I believe that it only ceased -to be discussed in consequence of the later affair that excited us -all so greatly. But, if it be possible--as, after hearing you, -I believe--to explain the tragedy through the ghost, then I -beg you sir, to talk to us about the ghost again. - -Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, he will always -be more easily explained than the dismal story in which malevolent -people have tried to picture two brothers killing each other -who had worshiped each other all their lives. - -Believe me, etc. - -Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over -the ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made -his kingdom. All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived, -corroborated the Persian's documents precisely; and a wonderful -discovery crowned my labors in a very definite fashion. It will be -remembered that, later, when digging in the substructure of the Opera, -before burying the phonographic records of the artist's voice, -the workmen laid bare a corpse. Well, I was at once able -to prove that this corpse was that of the Opera ghost. I made -the acting-manager put this proof to the test with his own hand; -and it is now a matter of supreme indifference to me if the papers -pretend that the body was that of a victim of the Commune. - -The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars -of the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their -skeletons can be found in a spot not very far from that immense crypt -which was stocked during the siege with all sorts of provisions. -I came upon this track just when I was looking for the remains -of the Opera ghost, which I should never have discovered but for -the unheard-of chance described above. - -But we will return to the corpse and what ought to be done with it. -For the present, I must conclude this very necessary introduction -by thanking M. Mifroid (who was the commissary of police called in for -the first investigations after the disappearance of Christine Daae), -M. Remy, the late secretary, M. Mercier, the late acting-manager, -M. Gabriel, the late chorus-master, and more particularly Mme. la -Baronne de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the "little Meg" -of the story (and who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star -of our admirable corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy -Mme. Giry, now deceased, who had charge of the ghost's private box. -All these were of the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, -I shall be able to reproduce those hours of sheer love and terror, -in their smallest details, before the reader's eyes. - -And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing -on the threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank -the present management the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me -in all my inquiries, and M. Messager in particular, together with -M. Gabion, the acting-manager, and that most amiable of men, -the architect intrusted with the preservation of the building, -who did not hesitate to lend me the works of Charles Garnier, -although he was almost sure that I would never return them to him. -Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the generosity of my friend -and former collaborator, M. J. Le Croze, who allowed me to dip -into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow the rarest -editions of books by which he set great store. - -GASTON LEROUX. - - - -Chapter I Is it the Ghost? - - -It was the evening on which MM. Debienne and Poligny, the managers of -the Opera, were giving a last gala performance to mark their retirement. -Suddenly the dressing-room of La Sorelli, one of the principal dancers, -was invaded by half-a-dozen young ladies of the ballet, who had come -up from the stage after "dancing" Polyeucte. They rushed in amid -great confusion, some giving vent to forced and unnatural laughter, -others to cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished to be alone for a moment -to "run through" the speech which she was to make to the resigning -managers, looked around angrily at the mad and tumultuous crowd. -It was little Jammes--the girl with the tip-tilted nose, -the forget-me-not eyes, the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white -neck and shoulders--who gave the explanation in a trembling voice: - -"It's the ghost!" And she locked the door. - -Sorelli's dressing-room was fitted up with official, commonplace elegance. -A pier-glass, a sofa, a dressing-table and a cupboard or two provided -the necessary furniture. On the walls hung a few engravings, -relics of the mother, who had known the glories of the old Opera in -the Rue le Peletier; portraits of Vestris, Gardel, Dupont, Bigottini. -But the room seemed a palace to the brats of the corps de ballet, -who were lodged in common dressing-rooms where they spent their -time singing, quarreling, smacking the dressers and hair-dressers -and buying one another glasses of cassis, beer, or even rhum, -until the call-boy's bell rang. - -Sorelli was very superstitious. She shuddered when she heard -little Jammes speak of the ghost, called her a "silly little fool" -and then, as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general, -and the Opera ghost in particular, at once asked for details: - -"Have you seen him?" - -"As plainly as I see you now!" said little Jammes, whose legs were -giving way beneath her, and she dropped with a moan into a chair. - -Thereupon little Giry--the girl with eyes black as sloes, -hair black as ink, a swarthy complexion and a poor little skin -stretched over poor little bones--little Giry added: - -"If that's the ghost, he's very ugly!" - -"Oh, yes!" cried the chorus of ballet-girls. - -And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them -in the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood -before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. -He seemed to have come straight through the wall. - -"Pooh!" said one of them, who had more or less kept her head. -"You see the ghost everywhere!" - -And it was true. For several months, there had been nothing discussed -at the Opera but this ghost in dress-clothes who stalked about -the building, from top to bottom, like a shadow, who spoke to nobody, -to whom nobody dared speak and who vanished as soon as he was seen, -no one knowing how or where. As became a real ghost, he made no noise -in walking. People began by laughing and making fun of this specter -dressed like a man of fashion or an undertaker; but the ghost legend -soon swelled to enormous proportions among the corps de ballet. -All the girls pretended to have met this supernatural being more -or less often. And those who laughed the loudest were not the most -at ease. When he did not show himself, he betrayed his presence -or his passing by accident, comic or serious, for which the general -superstition held him responsible. Had any one met with a fall, -or suffered a practical joke at the hands of one of the other girls, -or lost a powderpuff, it was at once the fault of the ghost, -of the Opera ghost. - -After all, who had seen him? You meet so many men in dress-clothes -at the Opera who are not ghosts. But this dress-suit had -a peculiarity of its own. It covered a skeleton. At least, -so the ballet-girls said. And, of course, it had a death's head. - -Was all this serious? The truth is that the idea of the skeleton -came from the description of the ghost given by Joseph Buquet, -the chief scene-shifter, who had really seen the ghost. He had run -up against the ghost on the little staircase, by the footlights, -which leads to "the cellars." He had seen him for a second-- -for the ghost had fled--and to any one who cared to listen to him -he said: - -"He is extraordinarily thin and his dress-coat hangs on a skeleton frame. -His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils. -You just see two big black holes, as in a dead man's skull. -His skin, which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead, -is not white, but a nasty yellow. His nose is so little worth -talking about that you can't see it side-face; and THE ABSENCE -of that nose is a horrible thing TO LOOK AT. All the hair he -has is three or four long dark locks on his forehead and behind -his ears." - -This chief scene-shifter was a serious, sober, steady man, -very slow at imagining things. His words were received with interest -and amazement; and soon there were other people to say that they too -had met a man in dress-clothes with a death's head on his shoulders. -Sensible men who had wind of the story began by saying that Joseph -Buquet had been the victim of a joke played by one of his assistants. -And then, one after the other, there came a series of incidents -so curious and so inexplicable that the very shrewdest people began -to feel uneasy. - -For instance, a fireman is a brave fellow! He fears nothing, -least of all fire! Well, the fireman in question, who had gone -to make a round of inspection in the cellars and who, it seems, -had ventured a little farther than usual, suddenly reappeared on -the stage, pale, scared, trembling, with his eyes starting out of -his head, and practically fainted in the arms of the proud mother -of little Jammes.[1] And why? Because he had seen coming toward him, -AT THE LEVEL OF HIS HEAD, BUT WITHOUT A BODY ATTACHED TO IT, -A HEAD OF FIRE! And, as I said, a fireman is not afraid of fire. - ----- - -[1] I have the anecdote, which is quite authentic, from M. Pedro -Gailhard himself, the late manager of the Opera. - -The fireman's name was Pampin. - -The corps de ballet was flung into consternation. At first sight, -this fiery head in no way corresponded with Joseph Buquet's -description of the ghost. But the young ladies soon persuaded -themselves that the ghost had several heads, which he changed about -as he pleased. And, of course, they at once imagined that they -were in the greatest danger. Once a fireman did not hesitate -to faint, leaders and front-row and back-row girls alike had plenty -of excuses for the fright that made them quicken their pace when -passing some dark corner or ill-lighted corridor. Sorelli herself, -on the day after the adventure of the fireman, placed a horseshoe -on the table in front of the stage-door-keeper's box, which every -one who entered the Opera otherwise than as a spectator must -touch before setting foot on the first tread of the staircase. -This horse-shoe was not invented by me--any more than any other -part of this story, alas!--and may still be seen on the table -in the passage outside the stage-door-keeper's box, when you enter -the Opera through the court known as the Cour de l'Administration. - -To return to the evening in question. - -"It's the ghost!" little Jammes had cried. - -An agonizing silence now reigned in the dressing-room. Nothing -was heard but the hard breathing of the girls. At last, Jammes, -flinging herself upon the farthest corner of the wall, with every -mark of real terror on her face, whispered: - -"Listen!" - -Everybody seemed to hear a rustling outside the door. There was no -sound of footsteps. It was like light silk sliding over the panel. -Then it stopped. - -Sorelli tried to show more pluck than the others. She went up -to the door and, in a quavering voice, asked: - -"Who's there?" - -But nobody answered. Then feeling all eyes upon her, watching her -last movement, she made an effort to show courage, and said very loudly: - -"Is there any one behind the door?" - -"Oh, yes, yes! Of course there is!" cried that little dried plum -of a Meg Giry, heroically holding Sorelli back by her gauze skirt. -"Whatever you do, don't open the door! Oh, Lord, don't open -the door!" - -But Sorelli, armed with a dagger that never left her, turned the key -and drew back the door, while the ballet-girls retreated to the inner -dressing-room and Meg Giry sighed: - -"Mother! Mother!" - -Sorelli looked into the passage bravely. It was empty; -a gas-flame, in its glass prison, cast a red and suspicious light -into the surrounding darkness, without succeeding in dispelling it. -And the dancer slammed the door again, with a deep sigh. - -"No," she said, "there is no one there." - -"Still, we saw him!" Jammes declared, returning with timid little steps -to her place beside Sorelli. "He must be somewhere prowling about. -I shan't go back to dress. We had better all go down to the foyer -together, at once, for the `speech,' and we will come up again together." - -And the child reverently touched the little coral finger-ring which -she wore as a charm against bad luck, while Sorelli, stealthily, -with the tip of her pink right thumb-nail, made a St. Andrew's cross -on the wooden ring which adorned the fourth finger of her left hand. -She said to the little ballet-girls: - -"Come, children, pull yourselves together! I dare say no one has -ever seen the ghost." - -"Yes, yes, we saw him--we saw him just now!" cried the girls. -"He had his death's head and his dress-coat, just as when he appeared -to Joseph Buquet!" - -"And Gabriel saw him too!" said Jammes. "Only yesterday! -Yesterday afternoon--in broad day-light----" - -"Gabriel, the chorus-master?" - -"Why, yes, didn't you know?" - -"And he was wearing his dress-clothes, in broad daylight?" - -"Who? Gabriel?" - -"Why, no, the ghost!" - -"Certainly! Gabriel told me so himself. That's what he knew him by. -Gabriel was in the stage-manager's office. Suddenly the door opened -and the Persian entered. You know the Persian has the evil eye----" - -"Oh, yes!" answered the little ballet-girls in chorus, warding off -ill-luck by pointing their forefinger and little finger at the absent -Persian, while their second and third fingers were bent on the palm -and held down by the thumb. - -"And you know how superstitious Gabriel is," continued Jammes. -"However, he is always polite. When he meets the Persian, he just -puts his hand in his pocket and touches his keys. Well, the moment -the Persian appeared in the doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from -his chair to the lock of the cupboard, so as to touch iron! -In doing so, he tore a whole skirt of his overcoat on a nail. -Hurrying to get out of the room, he banged his forehead against a -hat-peg and gave himself a huge bump; then, suddenly stepping back, -he skinned his arm on the screen, near the piano; he tried to lean -on the piano, but the lid fell on his hands and crushed his fingers; -he rushed out of the office like a madman, slipped on the staircase -and came down the whole of the first flight on his back. -I was just passing with mother. We picked him up. He was covered -with bruises and his face was all over blood. We were frightened out -of our lives, but, all at once, he began to thank Providence that he -had got off so cheaply. Then he told us what had frightened him. -He had seen the ghost behind the Persian, THE GHOST WITH THE DEATH'S -HEAD just like Joseph Buquet's description!" - -Jammes had told her story ever so quickly, as though the ghost -were at her heels, and was quite out of breath at the finish. -A silence followed, while Sorelli polished her nails in great excitement. -It was broken by little Giry, who said: - -"Joseph Buquet would do better to hold his tongue." - -"Why should he hold his tongue?" asked somebody. - -"That's mother's opinion," replied Meg, lowering her voice -and looking all about her as though fearing lest other ears -than those present might overhear. - -"And why is it your mother's opinion?" - -"Hush! Mother says the ghost doesn't like being talked about." - -"And why does your mother say so?" - -"Because--because--nothing--" - -This reticence exasperated the curiosity of the young ladies, -who crowded round little Giry, begging her to explain herself. -They were there, side by side, leaning forward simultaneously -in one movement of entreaty and fear, communicating their terror -to one another, taking a keen pleasure in feeling their blood freeze -in their veins. - -"I swore not to tell!" gasped Meg. - -But they left her no peace and promised to keep the secret, until Meg, -burning to say all she knew, began, with her eyes fixed on the door: - -"Well, it's because of the private box." - -"What private box?" - -"The ghost's box!" - -"Has the ghost a box? Oh, do tell us, do tell us!" - -"Not so loud!" said Meg. "It's Box Five, you know, the box -on the grand tier, next to the stage-box, on the left." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"I tell you it is. Mother has charge of it. But you swear you -won't say a word?" - -"Of course, of course." - -"Well, that's the ghost's box. No one has had it for over a month, -except the ghost, and orders have been given at the box-office -that it must never be sold." - -"And does the ghost really come there?" - -"Yes." - -"Then somebody does come?" - -"Why, no! The ghost comes, but there is nobody there." - -The little ballet-girls exchanged glances. If the ghost came to the box, -he must be seen, because he wore a dress-coat and a death's head. -This was what they tried to make Meg understand, but she replied: - -"That's just it! The ghost is not seen. And he has no dress-coat -and no head! All that talk about his death's head and his head of -fire is nonsense! There's nothing in it. You only hear him when he -is in the box. Mother has never seen him, but she has heard him. -Mother knows, because she gives him his program." - -Sorelli interfered. - -"Giry, child, you're getting at us!" - -Thereupon little Giry began to cry. - -"I ought to have held my tongue--if mother ever came to know! -But I was quite right, Joseph Buquet had no business to talk -of things that don't concern him--it will bring him bad luck-- -mother was saying so last night----" - -There was a sound of hurried and heavy footsteps in the passage -and a breathless voice cried: - -"Cecile! Cecile! Are you there?" - -"It's mother's voice," said Jammes. "What's the matter?" - -She opened the door. A respectable lady, built on the lines of a -Pomeranian grenadier, burst into the dressing-room and dropped groaning -into a vacant arm-chair. Her eyes rolled madly in her brick-dust colored -face. - -"How awful!" she said. "How awful!" - -"What? What?" - -"Joseph Buquet!" - -"What about him?" - -"Joseph Buquet is dead!" - -The room became filled with exclamations, with astonished outcries, -with scared requests for explanations. - -"Yes, he was found hanging in the third-floor cellar!" - -"It's the ghost!" little Giry blurted, as though in spite of herself; -but she at once corrected herself, with her hands pressed to her mouth: -"No, no!--I, didn't say it!--I didn't say it!----" - -All around her, her panic-stricken companions repeated under -their breaths: - -"Yes--it must be the ghost!" - -Sorelli was very pale. - -"I shall never be able to recite my speech," she said. - -Ma Jammes gave her opinion, while she emptied a glass of liqueur -that happened to be standing on a table; the ghost must have -something to do with it. - -The truth is that no one ever knew how Joseph Buquet met his death. -The verdict at the inquest was "natural suicide." In his Memoirs -of Manager, M. Moncharmin, one of the joint managers who succeeded MM. -Debienne and Poligny, describes the incident as follows: - -"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. -Debienne and Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was -in the manager's office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly -came darting in. He seemed half mad and told me that the body -of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar under -the stage, between a farm-house and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. -I shouted: - -"`Come and cut him down!' - -"By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob's ladder, -the man was no longer hanging from his rope!" - -So this is an event which M. Moncharmin thinks natural. A man -hangs at the end of a rope; they go to cut him down; the rope -has disappeared. Oh, M. Moncharmin found a very simple explanation! -Listen to him: - -"It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost -no time in taking their precautions against the evil eye." - -There you are! Picture the corps de ballet scuttling down the -Jacob's ladder and dividing the suicide's rope among themselves -in less time than it takes to write! When, on the other hand, -I think of the exact spot where the body was discovered-- -the third cellar underneath the stage!--imagine that SOMEBODY -must have been interested in seeing that the rope disappeared -after it had effected its purpose; and time will show if I am wrong. - -The horrid news soon spread all over the Opera, where Joseph Buquet -was very popular. The dressing-rooms emptied and the ballet-girls, -crowding around Sorelli like timid sheep around their shepherdess, -made for the foyer through the ill-lit passages and staircases, -trotting as fast as their little pink legs could carry them. - - - -Chapter II The New Margarita - - -On the first landing, Sorelli ran against the Comte de Chagny, -who was coming up-stairs. The count, who was generally so calm, -seemed greatly excited. - -"I was just going to you," he said, taking off his hat. "Oh, Sorelli, -what an evening! And Christine Daae: what a triumph!" - -"Impossible!" said Meg Giry. "Six months ago, she used to sing like -a CROCK! But do let us get by, my dear count," continues the brat, -with a saucy curtsey. "We are going to inquire after a poor man -who was found hanging by the neck." - -Just then the acting-manager came fussing past and stopped when he -heard this remark. - -"What!" he exclaimed roughly. "Have you girls heard already? -Well, please forget about it for tonight--and above all don't let -M. Debienne and M. Poligny hear; it would upset them too much -on their last day." - -They all went on to the foyer of the ballet, which was already full -of people. The Comte de Chagny was right; no gala performance ever -equalled this one. All the great composers of the day had conducted their -own works in turns. Faure and Krauss had sung; and, on that evening, -Christine Daae had revealed her true self, for the first time, -to the astonished and enthusiastic audience. Gounod had conducted -the Funeral March of a Marionnette; Reyer, his beautiful overture -to Siguar; Saint Saens, the Danse Macabre and a Reverie Orientale; -Massenet, an unpublished Hungarian march; Guiraud, his Carnaval; -Delibes, the Valse Lente from Sylvia and the Pizzicati from Coppelia. -Mlle. Krauss had sung the bolero in the Vespri Siciliani; -and Mlle. Denise Bloch the drinking song in Lucrezia Borgia. - -But the real triumph was reserved for Christine Daae, who had -begun by singing a few passages from Romeo and Juliet. It was -the first time that the young artist sang in this work of Gounod, -which had not been transferred to the Opera and which was revived -at the Opera Comique after it had been produced at the old Theatre -Lyrique by Mme. Carvalho. Those who heard her say that her voice, -in these passages, was seraphic; but this was nothing to the superhuman -notes that she gave forth in the prison scene and the final trio -in FAUST, which she sang in the place of La Carlotta, who was ill. -No one had ever heard or seen anything like it. - -Daae revealed a new Margarita that night, a Margarita of a splendor, -a radiance hitherto unsuspected. The whole house went mad, -rising to its feet, shouting, cheering, clapping, while Christine -sobbed and fainted in the arms of her fellow-singers and had to be -carried to her dressing-room. A few subscribers, however, protested. -Why had so great a treasure been kept from them all that time? -Till then, Christine Daae had played a good Siebel to Carlotta's -rather too splendidly material Margarita. And it had needed -Carlotta's incomprehensible and inexcusable absence from this gala -night for the little Daae, at a moment's warning, to show all that she -could do in a part of the program reserved for the Spanish diva! -Well, what the subscribers wanted to know was, why had Debienne -and Poligny applied to Daae, when Carlotta was taken ill? Did they -know of her hidden genius? And, if they knew of it, why had they -kept it hidden? And why had she kept it hidden? Oddly enough, -she was not known to have a professor of singing at that moment. -She had often said she meant to practise alone for the future. -The whole thing was a mystery. - -The Comte de Chagny, standing up in his box, listened to all this -frenzy and took part in it by loudly applauding. Philippe Georges -Marie Comte de Chagny was just forty-one years of age. -He was a great aristocrat and a good-looking man, above middle -height and with attractive features, in spite of his hard forehead -and his rather cold eyes. He was exquisitely polite to the women -and a little haughty to the men, who did not always forgive him -for his successes in society. He had an excellent heart and an -irreproachable conscience. On the death of old Count Philibert, -he became the head of one of the oldest and most distinguished -families in France, whose arms dated back to the fourteenth century. -The Chagnys owned a great deal of property; and, when the old count, -who was a widower, died, it was no easy task for Philippe to accept -the management of so large an estate. His two sisters and his -brother, Raoul, would not hear of a division and waived their claim -to their shares, leaving themselves entirely in Philippe's hands, -as though the right of primogeniture had never ceased to exist. -When the two sisters married, on the same day, they received their -portion from their brother, not as a thing rightfully belonging -to them, but as a dowry for which they thanked him. - -The Comtesse de Chagny, nee de Moerogis de La Martyniere, had died in -giving birth to Raoul, who was born twenty years after his elder brother. -At the time of the old count's death, Raoul was twelve years of age. -Philippe busied himself actively with the youngster's education. -He was admirably assisted in this work first by his sisters -and afterward by an old aunt, the widow of a naval officer, -who lived at Brest and gave young Raoul a taste for the sea. -The lad entered the Borda training-ship, finished his course -with honors and quietly made his trip round the world. Thanks to -powerful influence, he had just been appointed a member of the official -expedition on board the Requin, which was to be sent to the Arctic -Circle in search of the survivors of the D'Artoi's expedition, -of whom nothing had been heard for three years. Meanwhile, he was -enjoying a long furlough which would not be over for six months; -and already the dowagers of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were pitying -the handsome and apparently delicate stripling for the hard work -in store for him. - -The shyness of the sailor-lad--I was almost saying his innocence-- -was remarkable. He seemed to have but just left the women's -apron-strings. As a matter of fact, petted as he was by his two -sisters and his old aunt, he had retained from this purely feminine -education manners that were almost candid and stamped with a charm -that nothing had yet been able to sully. He was a little over -twenty-one years of age and looked eighteen. He had a small, -fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes and a complexion like a girl's. - -Philippe spoiled Raoul. To begin with, he was very proud of him -and pleased to foresee a glorious career for his junior in the navy -in which one of their ancestors, the famous Chagny de La Roche, -had held the rank of admiral. He took advantage of the young -man's leave of absence to show him Paris, with all its luxurious -and artistic delights. The count considered that, at Raoul's age, -it is not good to be too good. Philippe himself had a character -that was very well-balanced in work and pleasure alike; -his demeanor was always faultless; and he was incapable of setting -his brother a bad example. He took him with him wherever he went. -He even introduced him to the foyer of the ballet. I know that -the count was said to be "on terms" with Sorelli. But it could -hardly be reckoned as a crime for this nobleman, a bachelor, -with plenty of leisure, especially since his sisters were settled, -to come and spend an hour or two after dinner in the company -of a dancer, who, though not so very, very witty, had the finest -eyes that ever were seen! And, besides, there are places where -a true Parisian, when he has the rank of the Comte de Chagny, -is bound to show himself; and at that time the foyer of the ballet -at the Opera was one of those places. - -Lastly, Philippe would perhaps not have taken his brother behind -the scenes of the Opera if Raoul had not been the first to ask him, -repeatedly renewing his request with a gentle obstinacy which -the count remembered at a later date. - -On that evening, Philippe, after applauding the Daae, turned to -Raoul and saw that he was quite pale. - -"Don't you see," said Raoul, "that the woman's fainting?" - -"You look like fainting yourself," said the count. "What's the matter?" - -But Raoul had recovered himself and was standing up. - -"Let's go and see," he said, "she never sang like that before." - -The count gave his brother a curious smiling glance and seemed quite -pleased. They were soon at the door leading from the house to the stage. -Numbers of subscribers were slowly making their way through. -Raoul tore his gloves without knowing what he was doing and Philippe -had much too kind a heart to laugh at him for his impatience. -But he now understood why Raoul was absent-minded when spoken to -and why he always tried to turn every conversation to the subject -of the Opera. - -They reached the stage and pushed through the crowd of gentlemen, -scene-shifters, supers and chorus-girls, Raoul leading the way, -feeling that his heart no longer belonged to him, his face set -with passion, while Count Philippe followed him with difficulty -and continued to smile. At the back of the stage, Raoul had to stop -before the inrush of the little troop of ballet-girls who blocked -the passage which he was trying to enter. More than one chaffing -phrase darted from little made-up lips, to which he did not reply; -and at last he was able to pass, and dived into the semi-darkness -of a corridor ringing with the name of "Daae! Daae!" The count -was surprised to find that Raoul knew the way. He had never taken -him to Christine's himself and came to the conclusion that Raoul must -have gone there alone while the count stayed talking in the foyer -with Sorelli, who often asked him to wait until it was her time to -"go on" and sometimes handed him the little gaiters in which she ran -down from her dressing-room to preserve the spotlessness of her satin -dancing-shoes and her flesh-colored tights. Sorelli had an excuse; -she had lost her mother. - -Postponing his usual visit to Sorelli for a few minutes, the count -followed his brother down the passage that led to Daae's dressing-room -and saw that it had never been so crammed as on that evening, -when the whole house seemed excited by her success and also by her -fainting fit. For the girl had not yet come to; and the doctor -of the theater had just arrived at the moment when Raoul entered -at his heels. Christine, therefore, received the first aid -of the one, while opening her eyes in the arms of the other. -The count and many more remained crowding in the doorway. - -"Don't you think, Doctor, that those gentlemen had better clear -the room?" asked Raoul coolly. "There's no breathing here." - -"You're quite right," said the doctor. - -And he sent every one away, except Raoul and the maid, who looked -at Raoul with eyes of the most undisguised astonishment. -She had never seen him before and yet dared not question him; -and the doctor imagined that the young man was only acting as he did -because he had the right to. The viscount, therefore, remained in -the room watching Christine as she slowly returned to life, -while even the joint managers, Debienne and Poligny, who had come -to offer their sympathy and congratulations, found themselves thrust -into the passage among the crowd of dandies. The Comte de Chagny, -who was one of those standing outside, laughed: - -"Oh, the rogue, the rogue!" And he added, under his breath: -"Those youngsters with their school-girl airs! So he's a Chagny -after all!" - -He turned to go to Sorelli's dressing-room, but met her on the way, -with her little troop of trembling ballet-girls, as we have seen. - -Meanwhile, Christine Daae uttered a deep sigh, which was answered -by a groan. She turned her head, saw Raoul and started. She looked -at the doctor, on whom she bestowed a smile, then at her maid, -then at Raoul again. - -"Monsieur," she said, in a voice not much above a whisper, -"who are you?" - -"Mademoiselle," replied the young man, kneeling on one knee -and pressing a fervent kiss on the diva's hand, "I AM THE LITTLE -BOY WHO WENT INTO THE SEA TO RESCUE YOUR SCARF." - -Christine again looked at the doctor and the maid; and all three -began to laugh. - -Raoul turned very red and stood up. - -"Mademoiselle," he said, "since you are pleased not to recognize me, I -should like to say something to you in private, something very important." - -"When I am better, do you mind?" And her voice shook. "You have -been very good." - -"Yes, you must go," said the doctor, with his pleasantest smile. -"Leave me to attend to mademoiselle." - -"I am not ill now," said Christine suddenly, with strange -and unexpected energy. - -She rose and passed her hand over her eyelids. - -"Thank you, Doctor. I should like to be alone. Please go away, -all of you. Leave me. I feel very restless this evening." - -The doctor tried to make a short protest, but, perceiving the girl's -evident agitation, he thought the best remedy was not to thwart her. -And he went away, saying to Raoul, outside: - -"She is not herself to-night. She is usually so gentle." - -Then he said good night and Raoul was left alone. The whole of this -part of the theater was now deserted. The farewell ceremony was no -doubt taking place in the foyer of the ballet. Raoul thought that -Daae might go to it and he waited in the silent solitude, even hiding -in the favoring shadow of a doorway. He felt a terrible pain at his -heart and it was of this that he wanted to speak to Daae without delay. - -Suddenly the dressing-room door opened and the maid came out by herself, -carrying bundles. He stopped her and asked how her mistress was. -The woman laughed and said that she was quite well, but that he -must not disturb her, for she wished to be left alone. And she -passed on. One idea alone filled Raoul's burning brain: of course, -Daae wished to be left alone FOR HIM! Had he not told her that he -wanted to speak to her privately? - -Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his -ear to the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his -hand dropped. He had heard A MAN'S VOICE in the dressing-room, saying, -in a curiously masterful tone: - -"Christine, you must love me!" - -And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though -accompanied by tears, replied: - -"How can you talk like that? WHEN I SING ONLY FOR YOU!" - -Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain. His heart, which -had seemed gone for ever, returned to his breast and was throbbing -loudly. The whole passage echoed with its beating and Raoul's ears -were deafened. Surely, if his heart continued to make such a noise, -they would hear it inside, they would open the door and the young -man would be turned away in disgrace. What a position for a Chagny! -To be caught listening behind a door! He took his heart in his two hands -to make it stop. - -The man's voice spoke again: "Are you very tired?" - -"Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!" Christine replied. - -"Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice, -"and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. -THE ANGELS WEPT TONIGHT." - -Raoul heard nothing after that. Nevertheless, he did not go away, -but, as though he feared lest he should be caught, he returned to -his dark corner, determined to wait for the man to leave the room. -At one and the same time, he had learned what love meant, and hatred. -He knew that he loved. He wanted to know whom he hated. To his -great astonishment, the door opened and Christine Daae appeared, -wrapped in furs, with her face hidden in a lace veil, alone. She closed -the door behind her, but Raoul observed that she did not lock it. -She passed him. He did not even follow her with his eyes, for his -eyes were fixed on the door, which did not open again. - -When the passage was once more deserted, he crossed it, -opened the door of the dressing-room, went in and shut the door. -He found himself in absolute darkness. The gas had been turned out. - -"There is some one here!" said Raoul, with his back against -the closed door, in a quivering voice. "What are you hiding for?" - -All was darkness and silence. Raoul heard only the sound of his -own breathing. He quite failed to see that the indiscretion -of his conduct was exceeding all bounds. - -"You shan't leave this until I let you!" he exclaimed. "If you -don't answer, you are a coward! But I'll expose you!" - -And he struck a match. The blaze lit up the room. There was no -one in the room! Raoul, first turning the key in the door, lit the -gas-jets. He went into the dressing-closet, opened the cupboards, -hunted about, felt the walls with his moist hands. Nothing! - -"Look here!" he said, aloud. "Am I going mad?" - -He stood for ten minutes listening to the gas flaring in the silence -of the empty room; lover though he was, he did not even think of stealing -a ribbon that would have given him the perfume of the woman he loved. -He went out, not knowing what he was doing nor where he was going. -At a given moment in his wayward progress, an icy draft struck -him in the face. He found himself at the bottom of a staircase, -down which, behind him, a procession of workmen were carrying a sort -of stretcher, covered with a white sheet. - -"Which is the way out, please?" he asked of one of the men. - -"Straight in front of you, the door is open. But let us pass." - -Pointing to the stretcher, he asked mechanically: "What's that?" - -The workmen answered: - -"`That' is Joseph Buquet, who was found in the third cellar, -hanging between a farm-house and a scene from the ROI DE LAHORE." - -He took off his hat, fell back to make room for the procession -and went out. - - - -Chapter III The Mysterious Reason - - -During this time, the farewell ceremony was taking place. -I have already said that this magnificent function was being given -on the occasion of the retirement of M. Debienne and M. Poligny, -who had determined to "die game," as we say nowadays. They had been -assisted in the realization of their ideal, though melancholy, -program by all that counted in the social and artistic world of Paris. -All these people met, after the performance, in the foyer of the ballet, -where Sorelli waited for the arrival of the retiring managers -with a glass of champagne in her hand and a little prepared speech -at the tip of her tongue. Behind her, the members of the Corps -de Ballet, young and old, discussed the events of the day in whispers -or exchanged discreet signals with their friends, a noisy crowd -of whom surrounded the supper-tables arranged along the slanting floor. - -A few of the dancers had already changed into ordinary dress; but most -of them wore their skirts of gossamer gauze; and all had thought it -the right thing to put on a special face for the occasion: all, that is, -except little Jammes, whose fifteen summers--happy age!--seemed already -to have forgotten the ghost and the death of Joseph Buquet. She never -ceased to laugh and chatter, to hop about and play practical jokes, -until Mm. Debienne and Poligny appeared on the steps of the foyer, -when she was severely called to order by the impatient Sorelli. - -Everybody remarked that the retiring managers looked cheerful, -as is the Paris way. None will ever be a true Parisian who has -not learned to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one -of sadness, boredom or indifference over his inward joy. You know -that one of your friends is in trouble; do not try to console him: -he will tell you that he is already comforted; but, should he have met -with good fortune, be careful how you congratulate him: he thinks -it so natural that he is surprised that you should speak of it. -In Paris, our lives are one masked ball; and the foyer of the ballet -is the last place in which two men so "knowing" as M. Debienne -and M. Poligny would have made the mistake of betraying their grief, -however genuine it might be. And they were already smiling rather -too broadly upon Sorelli, who had begun to recite her speech, -when an exclamation from that little madcap of a Jammes broke -the smile of the managers so brutally that the expression of distress -and dismay that lay beneath it became apparent to all eyes: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -Jammes yelled these words in a tone of unspeakable terror; and her -finger pointed, among the crowd of dandies, to a face so pallid, -so lugubrious and so ugly, with two such deep black cavities -under the straddling eyebrows, that the death's head in question -immediately scored a huge success. - -"The Opera ghost! The Opera ghost!" Everybody laughed and pushed -his neighbor and wanted to offer the Opera ghost a drink, but he -was gone. He had slipped through the crowd; and the others vainly -hunted for him, while two old gentlemen tried to calm little Jammes -and while little Giry stood screaming like a peacock. - -Sorelli was furious; she had not been able to finish her speech; -the managers, had kissed her, thanked her and run away as fast as -the ghost himself. No one was surprised at this, for it was known -that they were to go through the same ceremony on the floor above, -in the foyer of the singers, and that finally they were themselves -to receive their personal friends, for the last time, in the great -lobby outside the managers' office, where a regular supper would -be served. - -Here they found the new managers, M. Armand Moncharmin and -M. Firmin Richard, whom they hardly knew; nevertheless, they were -lavish in protestations of friendship and received a thousand -flattering compliments in reply, so that those of the guests who had -feared that they had a rather tedious evening in store for them -at once put on brighter faces. The supper was almost gay and a -particularly clever speech of the representative of the government, -mingling the glories of the past with the successes of the future, -caused the greatest cordiality to prevail. - -The retiring managers had already handed over to their successors the -two tiny master-keys which opened all the doors--thousands of doors-- -of the Opera house. And those little keys, the object of general -curiosity, were being passed from hand to hand, when the attention -of some of the guests was diverted by their discovery, at the end -of the table, of that strange, wan and fantastic face, with the -hollow eyes, which had already appeared in the foyer of the ballet -and been greeted by little Jammes' exclamation: - -"The Opera ghost!" - -There sat the ghost, as natural as could be, except that he neither -ate nor drank. Those who began by looking at him with a smile ended -by turning away their heads, for the sight of him at once provoked -the most funereal thoughts. No one repeated the joke of the foyer, -no one exclaimed: - -"There's the Opera ghost!" - -He himself did not speak a word and his very neighbors could not -have stated at what precise moment he had sat down between them; -but every one felt that if the dead did ever come and sit at -the table of the living, they could not cut a more ghastly figure. -The friends of Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin thought that this -lean and skinny guest was an acquaintance of Debienne's or Poligny's, -while Debienne's and Poligny's friends believed that the cadaverous -individual belonged to Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin's party. - -The result was that no request was made for an explanation; -no unpleasant remark; no joke in bad taste, which might have offended -this visitor from the tomb. A few of those present who knew the story -of the ghost and the description of him given by the chief scene-shifter-- -they did not know of Joseph Buquet's death--thought, in their own minds, -that the man at the end of the table might easily have passed for him; -and yet, according to the story, the ghost had no nose and the person -in question had. But M. Moncharmin declares, in his Memoirs, -that the guest's nose was transparent: "long, thin and transparent" -are his exact words. I, for my part, will add that this might -very well apply to a false nose. M. Moncharmin may have taken -for transparency what was only shininess. Everybody knows -that orthopaedic science provides beautiful false noses for -those who have lost their noses naturally or as the result -of an operation. - -Did the ghost really take a seat at the managers' supper-table -that night, uninvited? And can we be sure that the figure was -that of the Opera ghost himself? Who would venture to assert -as much? I mention the incident, not because I wish for a second -to make the reader believe--or even to try to make him believe-- -that the ghost was capable of such a sublime piece of impudence; -but because, after all, the thing is impossible. - -M. Armand Moncharmin, in chapter eleven of his Memoirs, says: - -"When I think of this first evening, I can not separate the secret -confided to us by MM. Debienne and Poligny in their office from -the presence at our supper of that GHOSTLY person whom none of us knew." - -What happened was this: Mm. Debienne and Poligny, sitting at -the center of the table, had not seen the man with the death's head. -Suddenly he began to speak. - -"The ballet-girls are right," he said. "The death of that poor -Buquet is perhaps not so natural as people think." - -Debienne and Poligny gave a start. - -"Is Buquet dead?" they cried. - -"Yes," replied the man, or the shadow of a man, quietly. "He was found, -this evening, hanging in the third cellar, between a farm-house -and a scene from the Roi de Lahore." - -The two managers, or rather ex-managers, at once rose and stared -strangely at the speaker. They were more excited than they need -have been, that is to say, more excited than any one need be by -the announcement of the suicide of a chief scene-shifter. They looked -at each other. They, had both turned whiter than the table-cloth. -At last, Debienne made a sign to Mm. Richard and Moncharmin; -Poligny muttered a few words of excuse to the guests; and all four -went into the managers' office. I leave M. Moncharmin to complete -the story. In his Memoirs, he says: - -"Mm. Debienne and Poligny seemed to grow more and more excited, -and they appeared to have something very difficult to tell us. -First, they asked us if we knew the man, sitting at the end of the table, -who had told them of the death of Joseph Buquet; and, when we answered -in the negative, they looked still more concerned. They took the -master-keys from our hands, stared at them for a moment and advised -us to have new locks made, with the greatest secrecy, for the rooms, -closets and presses that we might wish to have hermetically closed. -They said this so funnily that we began to laugh and to ask if there -were thieves at the Opera. They replied that there was something worse, -which was the GHOST. We began to laugh again, feeling sure that -they were indulging in some joke that was intended to crown our -little entertainment. Then, at their request, we became `serious,' -resolving to humor them and to enter into the spirit of the game. -They told us that they never would have spoken to us of the ghost, -if they had not received formal orders from the ghost himself -to ask us to be pleasant to him and to grant any request that he -might make. However, in their relief at leaving a domain where -that tyrannical shade held sway, they had hesitated until the last -moment to tell us this curious story, which our skeptical minds -were certainly not prepared to entertain. But the announcement of -the death of Joseph Buquet had served them as a brutal reminder that, -whenever they had disregarded the ghost's wishes, some fantastic -or disastrous event had brought them to a sense of their dependence. - -"During these unexpected utterances made in a tone of the most secret -and important confidence, I looked at Richard. Richard, in his -student days, had acquired a great reputation for practical joking, -and he seemed to relish the dish which was being served up to him -in his turn. He did not miss a morsel of it, though the seasoning -was a little gruesome because of the death of Buquet. He nodded -his head sadly, while the others spoke, and his features assumed -the air of a man who bitterly regretted having taken over the Opera, -now that he knew that there was a ghost mixed up in the business. -I could think of nothing better than to give him a servile imitation -of this attitude of despair. However, in spite of all our efforts, -we could not, at the finish, help bursting out laughing in the faces -of MM. Debienne and Poligny, who, seeing us pass straight from -the gloomiest state of mind to one of the most insolent merriment, -acted as though they thought that we had gone mad. - -"The joke became a little tedious; and Richard asked half-seriously -and half in jest: - -"`But, after all, what does this ghost of yours want?' - -"M. Poligny went to his desk and returned with a copy of the -memorandum-book. The memorandum-book begins with the well-known -words saying that `the management of the Opera shall give to -the performance of the National Academy of Music the splendor that -becomes the first lyric stage in France' and ends with Clause 98, -which says that the privilege can be withdrawn if the manager -infringes the conditions stipulated in the memorandum-book. -This is followed by the conditions, which are four in number. - -"The copy produced by M. Poligny was written in black ink -and exactly similar to that in our possession, except that, -at the end, it contained a paragraph in red ink and in a queer, -labored handwriting, as though it had been produced by dipping -the heads of matches into the ink, the writing of a child -that has never got beyond the down-strokes and has not learned -to join its letters. This paragraph ran, word for word, as follows: - -"`5. Or if the manager, in any month, delay for more than a fortnight -the payment of the allowance which he shall make to the Opera ghost, -an allowance of twenty thousand francs a month, say two hundred -and forty thousand francs a year.' - -"M. Poligny pointed with a hesitating finger to this last clause, -which we certainly did not expect. - -"`Is this all? Does he not want anything else?' asked Richard, -with the greatest coolness. - -"`Yes, he does,' replied Poligny. - -"And he turned over the pages of the memorandum-book until he -came to the clause specifying the days on which certain private -boxes were to be reserved for the free use of the president of -the republic, the ministers and so on. At the end of this clause, -a line had been added, also in red ink: - -"`Box Five on the grand tier shall be placed at the disposal -of the Opera ghost for every performance.' - -"When we saw this, there was nothing else for us to do but to rise -from our chairs, shake our two predecessors warmly by the hand -and congratulate them on thinking of this charming little joke, -which proved that the old French sense of humor was never likely -to become extinct. Richard added that he now understood why MM. -Debienne and Poligny were retiring from the management of the National -Academy of Music. Business was impossible with so unreasonable -a ghost. - -"`Certainly, two hundred and forty thousand francs are not be picked up -for the asking,' said M. Poligny, without moving a muscle of his face. -`And have you considered what the loss over Box Five meant to us? -We did not sell it once; and not only that, but we had to return -the subscription: why, it's awful! We really can't work to keep ghosts! -We prefer to go away!' - -"`Yes,' echoed M. Debienne, `we prefer to go away. Let us go.'" - -"And he stood up. Richard said: `But, after all all, it seems -to me that you were much too kind to the ghost. If I had such -a troublesome ghost as that, I should not hesitate to have him arrested.' - -"`But how? Where?' they cried, in chorus. `We have never seen him!' - -"`But when he comes to his box?' - -"'WE HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM IN HIS BOX.' - -"`Then sell it.' - -"`Sell the Opera ghost's box! Well, gentlemen, try it.' - -"Thereupon we all four left the office. Richard and I had `never -laughed so much in our lives.'" - - - -Chapter IV Box Five - - -Armand Moncharmin wrote such voluminous Memoirs during the fairly long -period of his co-management that we may well ask if he ever found -time to attend to the affairs of the Opera otherwise than by telling -what went on there. M. Moncharmin did not know a note of music, -but he called the minister of education and fine arts by his -Christian name, had dabbled a little in society journalism and enjoyed -a considerable private income. Lastly, he was a charming fellow -and showed that he was not lacking in intelligence, for, as soon as he -made up his mind to be a sleeping partner in the Opera, he selected -the best possible active manager and went straight to Firmin Richard. - -Firmin Richard was a very distinguished composer, who had published -a number of successful pieces of all kinds and who liked nearly every -form of music and every sort of musician. Clearly, therefore, it was -the duty of every sort of musician to like M. Firmin Richard. -The only things to be said against him were that he was rather -masterful in his ways and endowed with a very hasty temper. - -The first few days which the partners spent at the Opera were given -over to the delight of finding themselves the head of so magnificent -an enterprise; and they had forgotten all about that curious, -fantastic story of the ghost, when an incident occurred that -proved to them that the joke--if joke it were--was not over. -M. Firmin Richard reached his office that morning at eleven -o'clock. His secretary, M. Remy, showed him half a dozen letters -which he had not opened because they were marked "private." -One of the letters had at once attracted Richard's attention not -only because the envelope was addressed in red ink, but because he -seemed to have seen the writing before. He soon remembered that it -was the red handwriting in which the memorandum-book had been -so curiously completed. He recognized the clumsy childish hand. -He opened the letter and read: - -DEAR MR. MANAGER: - -I am sorry to have to trouble you at a time when you must be -so very busy, renewing important engagements, signing fresh ones -and generally displaying your excellent taste. I know what you -have done for Carlotta, Sorelli and little Jammes and for a few -others whose admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected. - -Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them -to La Carlotta, who sings like a squirt and who ought never to -have been allowed to leave the Ambassadeurs and the Cafe Jacquin; -nor to La Sorelli, who owes her success mainly to the coach-builders; -nor to little Jammes, who dances like a calf in a field. And I am -not speaking of Christine Daae either, though her genius is certain, -whereas your jealousy prevents her from creating any important part. -When all is said, you are free to conduct your little business as you -think best, are you not? - -All the same, I should like to take advantage of the fact that you -have not yet turned Christine Daae out of doors by hearing her -this evening in the part of Siebel, as that of Margarita has been -forbidden her since her triumph of the other evening; and I will -ask you not to dispose of my box to-day nor on the FOLLOWING DAYS, -for I can not end this letter without telling you how disagreeably -surprised I have been once or twice, to hear, on arriving at the Opera, -that my box had been sold, at the box-office, by your orders. - -I did not protest, first, because I dislike scandal, and, second, -because I thought that your predecessors, MM. Debienne and Poligny, -who were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, -to mention my little fads to you. I have now received a reply -from those gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, -and this reply proves that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, -consequently, that you are treating me with outrageous contempt. -IF YOU WISH TO LIVE IN PEACE, YOU MUST NOT BEGIN BY TAKING AWAY -MY PRIVATE BOX. - -Believe me to be, dear Mr. Manager, without prejudice to these -little observations, - Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant, - OPERA GHOST. - -The letter was accompanied by a cutting from the agony-column -of the Revue Theatrale, which ran: - -O. G.--There is no excuse for R. and M. We told them and left -your memorandum-book in their hands. Kind regards. - -M. Firmin Richard had hardly finished reading this letter when -M. Armand Moncharmin entered, carrying one exactly similar. -They looked at each other and burst out laughing. - -"They are keeping up the joke," said M. Richard, "but I don't call -it funny." - -"What does it all mean?" asked M. Moncharmin. "Do they imagine that, -because they have been managers of the Opera, we are going to let -them have a box for an indefinite period?" - -"I am not in the mood to let myself be laughed at long," -said Firmin Richard. - -"It's harmless enough," observed Armand Moncharmin. "What is it -they really want? A box for to-night?" - -M. Firmin Richard told his secretary to send Box Five on the grand -tier to Mm. Debienne and Poligny, if it was not sold. It was not. -It was sent off to them. Debienne lived at the corner of the Rue -Scribe and the Boulevard des Capucines; Poligny, in the Rue Auber. -O. Ghost's two letters had been posted at the Boulevard des -Capucines post-office, as Moncharmin remarked after examining -the envelopes. - -"You see!" said Richard. - -They shrugged their shoulders and regretted that two men of that age -should amuse themselves with such childish tricks. - -"They might have been civil, for all that!" said Moncharmin. -"Did you notice how they treat us with regard to Carlotta, -Sorelli and Little Jammes?" - -"Why, my dear fellow, these two are mad with jealousy! To think that -they went to the expense of, an advertisement in the Revue Theatrale! -Have they nothing better to do?" - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "they seem to be greatly interested -in that little Christine Daae!" - -"You know as well as I do that she has the reputation of being -quite good," said Richard. - -"Reputations are easily obtained," replied Moncharmin. "Haven't I -a reputation for knowing all about music? And I don't know one key -from another." - -"Don't be afraid: you never had that reputation," Richard declared. - -Thereupon he ordered the artists to be shown in, who, for the last -two hours, had been walking up and down outside the door behind -which fame and fortune--or dismissal--awaited them. - -The whole day was spent in discussing, negotiating, signing or -cancelling contracts; and the two overworked managers went -to bed early, without so much as casting a glance at Box Five -to see whether M. Debienne and M. Poligny were enjoying the performance. - -Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost: - -DEAR, MR. MANAGER: - -Thanks. Charming evening. Daae exquisite. Choruses want waking up. -Carlotta a splendid commonplace instrument. Will write you soon -for the 240,000 francs, or 233,424 fr. 70 c., to be correct. -Mm. Debienne and Poligny have sent me the 6,575 fr. 30 c. -representing the first ten days of my allowance for the current year; -their privileges finished on the evening of the tenth inst. - -Kind regards. O. G. - -On the other hand, there was a letter from Mm. Debienne and Poligny: - -GENTLEMEN: - -We are much obliged for your kind thought of us, but you will -easily understand that the prospect of again hearing Faust, -pleasant though it is to ex-managers of the Opera, can not make us -forget that we have no right to occupy Box Five on the grand tier, -which is the exclusive property of HIM of whom we spoke to you when -we went through the memorandum-book with you for the last time. -See Clause 98, final paragraph. - -Accept, gentlemen, etc. - -"Oh, those fellows are beginning to annoy me!" shouted Firmin Richard, -snatching up the letter. - -And that evening Box Five was sold. - -The next morning, Mm. Richard and Moncharmin, on reaching their office, -found an inspector's report relating to an incident that had happened, -the night before, in Box Five. I give the essential part of the report: - -I was obliged to call in a municipal guard twice, this evening, -to clear Box Five on the grand tier, once at the beginning and once -in the middle of the second act. The occupants, who arrived -as the curtain rose on the second act, created a regular scandal -by their laughter and their ridiculous observations. There -were cries of "Hush!" all around them and the whole house was -beginning to protest, when the box-keeper came to fetch me. I entered -the box and said what I thought necessary. The people did not seem -to me to be in their right mind; and they made stupid remarks. -I said that, if the noise was repeated, I should be compelled -to clear the box. The moment I left, I heard the laughing again, -with fresh protests from the house. I returned with a municipal -guard, who turned them out. They protested, still laughing, -saying they would not go unless they had their money back. At last, -they became quiet and I allowed them to enter the box again. -The laughter at once recommenced; and, this time, I had them turned -out definitely. - -"Send for the inspector," said Richard to his secretary, who had -already read the report and marked it with blue pencil. - -M. Remy, the secretary, had foreseen the order and called -the inspector at once. - -"Tell us what happened," said Richard bluntly. - -The inspector began to splutter and referred to the report. - -"Well, but what were those people laughing at?" asked Moncharmin. - -"They must have been dining, sir, and seemed more inclined to lark -about than to listen to good music. The moment they entered the box, -they came out again and called the box-keeper, who asked them what -they wanted. They said, `Look in the box: there's no one there, -is there?' `No,' said the woman. `Well,' said they, `when we went in, -we heard a voice saying THAT THE BOX WAS TAKEN!'" - -M. Moncharmin could not help smiling as he looked at M. Richard; -but M. Richard did not smile. He himself had done too much in -that way in his time not to recognize, in the inspector's story, -all the marks of one of those practical jokes which begin -by amusing and end by enraging the victims. The inspector, -to curry favor with M. Moncharmin, who was smiling, thought it -best to give a smile too. A most unfortunate smile! M. Richard -glared at his subordinate, who thenceforth made it his business -to display a face of utter consternation. - -"However, when the people arrived," roared Richard, "there was -no one in the box, was there?" - -"Not a soul, sir, not a soul! Nor in the box on the right, nor in -the box on the left: not a soul, sir, I swear! The box-keeper -told it me often enough, which proves that it was all a joke." - -"Oh, you agree, do you?" said Richard. "You agree! It's a joke! -And you think it funny, no doubt?" - -"I think it in very bad taste, sir." - -"And what did the box-keeper say?" - -"Oh, she just said that it was the Opera ghost. That's all she said!" - -And the inspector grinned. But he soon found that he had made -a mistake in grinning, for the words had no sooner left his mouth -than M. Richard, from gloomy, became furious. - -"Send for the box-keeper!" he shouted. "Send for her! This minute! -This minute! And bring her in to me here! And turn all those -people out!" - -The inspector tried to protest, but Richard closed his mouth -with an angry order to hold his tongue. Then, when the wretched -man's lips seemed shut for ever, the manager commanded him to open -them once more. - -"Who is this `Opera ghost?'" he snarled. - -But the inspector was by this time incapable of speaking a word. -He managed to convey, by a despairing gesture, that he knew nothing -about it, or rather that he did not wish to know. - -"Have you ever seen him, have you seen the Opera ghost?" - -The inspector, by means of a vigorous shake of the head, denied ever -having seen the ghost in question. - -"Very well!" said M. Richard coldly. - -The inspector's eyes started out of his head, as though to ask why -the manager had uttered that ominous "Very well!" - -"Because I'm going to settle the account of any one who has not -seen him!" explained the manager. "As he seems to be everywhere, -I can't have people telling me that they see him nowhere. -I like people to work for me when I employ them!" - -Having said this, M. Richard paid no attention to the inspector -and discussed various matters of business with his acting-manager, -who had entered the room meanwhile. The inspector thought he -could go and was gently--oh, so gently!--sidling toward the door, -when M. Richard nailed the man to the floor with a thundering: - -"Stay where you are!" - -M. Remy had sent for the box-keeper to the Rue de Provence, -close to the Opera, where she was engaged as a porteress. -She soon made her appearance. - -"What's your name?" - -"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother -of little Giry, little Meg, what!" - -This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, -M. Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, -her worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite -evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know -or could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, -nor even "little Meg!" But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that -the celebrated box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her. - -"Never heard of her!" the manager declared. "But that's no reason, -Mme. Giry, why I shouldn't ask you what happened last night to make -you and the inspector call in a municipal guard." - -"I was just wanting to see you, sir, and talk to you about it, -so that you mightn't have the same unpleasantness as M. Debienne -and M. Poligny. They wouldn't listen to me either, at first." - -"I'm not asking you about all that. I'm asking what happened -last night." - -Mme. Giry turned purple with indignation. Never had she been -spoken to like that. She rose as though to go, gathering up -the folds of her skirt and waving the feathers of her dingy bonnet -with dignity, but, changing her mind, she sat down again and said, -in a haughty voice: - -"I'll tell you what happened. The ghost was annoyed again!" - -Thereupon, as M. Richard was on the point of bursting out, M. Moncharmin -interfered and conducted the interrogatory, whence it appeared -that Mme. Giry thought it quite natural that a voice should be heard -to say that a box was taken, when there was nobody in the box. -She was unable to explain this phenomenon, which was not new to her, -except by the intervention of the ghost. Nobody could see the ghost -in his box, but everybody could hear him. She had often heard him; -and they could believe her, for she always spoke the truth. -They could ask M. Debienne and M. Poligny, and anybody who knew her; -and also M. Isidore Saack, who had had a leg broken by the ghost! - -"Indeed!" said Moncharmin, interrupting her. "Did the ghost break -poor Isidore Saack's leg?" - -Mme. Giry opened her eyes with astonishment at such ignorance. -However, she consented to enlighten those two poor innocents. -The thing had happened in M. Debienne and M. Poligny's time, also in -Box Five and also during a performance of FAUST. Mme. Giry coughed, -cleared her throat--it sounded as though she were preparing to sing -the whole of Gounod's score--and began: - -"It was like this, sir. That night, M. Maniera and his lady, -the jewelers in the Rue Mogador, were sitting in the front of the box, -with their great friend, M. Isidore Saack, sitting behind Mme. Maniera. -Mephistopheles was singing"--Mme. Giry here burst into song herself--" -`Catarina, while you play at sleeping,' and then M. Maniera heard -a voice in his right ear (his wife was on his left) saying, `Ha, ha! -Julie's not playing at sleeping!' His wife happened to be called -Julie. So. M. Maniera turns to the right to see who was talking -to him like that. Nobody there! He rubs his ear and asks himself, -if he's dreaming. Then Mephistopheles went on with his serenade. -... But, perhaps I'm boring you gentlemen?" - -"No, no, go on." - -"You are too good, gentlemen," with a smirk. "Well, then, -Mephistopheles went on with his serenade"--Mme. Giry, burst into -song again--" `Saint, unclose thy portals holy and accord the bliss, -to a mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss.' And then M. Maniera -again hears the voice in his right ear, saying, this time, `Ha, ha! -Julie wouldn't mind according a kiss to Isidore!' Then he turns -round again, but, this time, to the left; and what do you think -he sees? Isidore, who had taken his lady's hand and was covering -it with kisses through the little round place in the glove-- -like this, gentlemen"--rapturously kissing the bit of palm left bare -in the middle of her thread gloves. "Then they had a lively time -between them! Bang! Bang! M. Maniera, who was big and strong, -like you, M. Richard, gave two blows to M. Isidore Saack, -who was small and weak like M. Moncharmin, saving his presence. -There was a great uproar. People in the house shouted, `That will do! -Stop them! He'll kill him!' Then, at last, M. Isidore Saack managed -to run away." - -"Then the ghost had not broken his leg?" asked M. Moncharmin, -a little vexed that his figure had made so little impression on -Mme. Giry. - -"He did break it for him, sir," replied Mme. Giry haughtily. -"He broke it for him on the grand staircase, which he ran down -too fast, sir, and it will be long before the poor gentleman will -be able to go up it again!" - -"Did the ghost tell you what he said in M. Maniera's right ear?" -asked M. Moncharmin, with a gravity which he thought exceedingly humorous. - -"No, sir, it was M. Maniera himself. So----" - -"But you have spoken to the ghost, my good lady?" - -"As I'm speaking to you now, my good sir!" Mme. Giry replied. - -"And, when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?" - -"Well, he tells me to bring him a footstool!" - -This time, Richard burst out laughing, as did Moncharmin and Remy, -the secretary. Only the inspector, warned by experience, was careful -not to laugh, while Mme. Giry ventured to adopt an attitude that -was positively threatening. - -"Instead of laughing," she cried indignantly, "you'd do better -to do as M. Poligny did, who found out for himself." - -"Found out about what?" asked Moncharmin, who had never been so much -amused in his life. - -"About the ghost, of course!...Look here..." - -She suddenly calmed herself, feeling that this was a solemn moment -in her life: - -"LOOK HERE," she repeated. "They were playing La Juive. M. Poligny -thought he would watch the performance from the ghost's box. -...Well, when Leopold cries, `Let us fly!'--you know--and Eleazer -stops them and says, `Whither go ye?'...well, M. Poligny-- -I was watching him from the back of the next box, which was empty-- -M. Poligny got up and walked out quite stiffly, like a statue, -and before I had time to ask him, `Whither go ye?' like Eleazer, -he was down the staircase, but without breaking his leg. - -"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask -you for a footstool," insisted M. Moncharmin. - -"Well, from that evening, no one tried to take the ghost's private -box from him. The manager gave orders that he was to have it at -each performance. And, whenever he came, he asked me for a footstool." - -"Tut, tut! A ghost asking for a footstool! Then this ghost -of yours is a woman?" - -"No, the ghost is a man." - -"How do you know?" - -"He has a man's voice, oh, such a lovely man's voice! This is -what happens: When he comes to the opera, it's usually in the middle -of the first act. He gives three little taps on the door of Box Five. -The first time I heard those three taps, when I knew there was -no one in the box, you can think how puzzled I was! I opened -the door, listened, looked; nobody! And then I heard a voice say, -`Mme. Jules' my poor husband's name was Jules--`a footstool, please.' -Saving your presence, gentlemen, it made me feel all-overish like. -But the voice went on, `Don't be frightened, Mme. Jules, I'm the -Opera ghost!' And the voice was so soft and kind that I hardly -felt frightened. THE VOICE WAS SITTING IN THE CORNER CHAIR, -ON THE RIGHT, IN THE FRONT ROW." - -"Was there any one in the box on the right of Box Five?" -asked Moncharmin. - -"No; Box Seven, and Box Three, the one on the left, were both empty. -The curtain had only just gone up." - -"And what did you do?" - -"Well, I brought the footstool. Of course, it wasn't for himself -he wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her." - -"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!" The eyes of the two -managers traveled from Mme. Giry to the inspector, who, standing behind -the box-keeper, was waving his arms to attract their attention. -He tapped his forehead with a distressful forefinger, to convey -his opinion that the widow Jules Giry was most certainly mad, -a piece of pantomime which confirmed M. Richard in his determination -to get rid of an inspector who kept a lunatic in his service. -Meanwhile, the worthy lady went on about her ghost, now painting -his generosity: - -"At the end of the performance, he always gives me two francs, -sometimes five, sometimes even ten, when he has been many days -without coming. Only, since people have begun to annoy him again, -he gives me nothing at all. - -"Excuse me, my good woman," said Moncharmin, while Mme. Giry tossed -the feathers in her dingy hat at this persistent familiarity, -"excuse me, how does the ghost manage to give you your two francs?" - -"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course. -I find them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, -I find flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his -lady's bodice...for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, -they left a fan behind them." - -"Oh, the ghost left a fan, did he? And what did you do with it?" - -"Well, I brought it back to the box next night." - -Here the inspector's voice was raised. - -"You've broken the rules; I shall have to fine you, Mme. Giry." - -"Hold your tongue, you fool!" muttered M. Firmin Richard. - -"You brought back the fan. And then?" - -"Well, then, they took it away with them, sir; it was not there -at the end of the performance; and in its place they left me a box -of English sweets, which I'm very fond of. That's one of the ghost's -pretty thoughts." - -"That will do, Mme. Giry. You can go." - -When Mme. Giry had bowed herself out, with the dignity that never -deserted her, the manager told the inspector that they had decided -to dispense with that old madwoman's services; and, when he -had gone in his turn, they instructed the acting-manager to make -up the inspector's accounts. Left alone, the managers told -each other of the idea which they both had in mind, which was -that they should look into that little matter of Box Five themselves. - - - -Chapter V The Enchanted Violin - - -Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, -did not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera. After the -famous gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; -but this was the last occasion on which she was heard in private. -She refused, without plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert -to which she had promised her assistance. She acted throughout -as though she were no longer the mistress of her own destiny and as -though she feared a fresh triumph. - -She knew that the Comte de Chagny, to please his brother, had done -his best on her behalf with M. Richard; and she wrote to thank him -and also to ask him to cease speaking in her favor. Her reason -for this curious attitude was never known. Some pretended that it -was due to overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty. -But people on the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think -that I shall not be far from the truth if I ascribe her action -simply to fear. Yes, I believe that Christine Daae was frightened -by what had happened to her. I have a letter of Christine's (it -forms part of the Persian's collection), relating to this period, -which suggests a feeling of absolute dismay: - -"I don't know myself when I sing," writes the poor child. - -She showed herself nowhere; and the Vicomte de Chagny tried -in vain to meet her. He wrote to her, asking to call upon her, -but despaired of receiving a reply when, one morning, she sent -him the following note: - -MONSIEUR: - -I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea -to rescue my scarf. I feel that I must write to you to-day, -when I am going to Perros, in fulfilment of a sacred duty. -To-morrow is the anniversary of the death of my poor father, -whom you knew and who was very fond of you. He is buried there, -with his violin, in the graveyard of the little church, at the bottom -of the slope where we used to play as children, beside the road where, -when we were a little bigger, we said good-by for the last time. - -The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, -dressed as quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet -to take to his brother and jumped into a cab which brought him -to the Gare Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train. -He spent a dismal day in town and did not recover his spirits -until the evening, when he was seated in his compartment in the -Brittany express. He read Christine's note over and over again, -smelling its perfume, recalling the sweet pictures of his childhood, -and spent the rest of that tedious night journey in feverish dreams -that began and ended with Christine Daae. Day was breaking when he -alighted at Lannion. He hurried to the diligence for Perros-Guirec. -He was the only passenger. He questioned the driver and learned that, -on the evening of the previous day, a young lady who looked -like a Parisian had gone to Perros and put up at the inn known -as the Setting Sun. - -The nearer he drew to her, the more fondly he remembered the story -of the little Swedish singer. Most of the details are still unknown -to the public. - -There was once, in a little market-town not far from Upsala, a peasant -who lived there with his family, digging the earth during the week -and singing in the choir on Sundays. This peasant had a little daughter -to whom he taught the musical alphabet before she knew how to read. -Daae's father was a great musician, perhaps without knowing it. -Not a fiddler throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia -played as he did. His reputation was widespread and he was always -invited to set the couples dancing at weddings and other festivals. -His wife died when Christine was entering upon her sixth year. -Then the father, who cared only for his daughter and his music, sold his -patch of ground and went to Upsala in search of fame and fortune. -He found nothing but poverty. - -He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, -strumming his Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never -left his side, listened to him in ecstasy or sang to his playing. -One day, at Ljimby Fair, Professor Valerius heard them and took -them to Gothenburg. He maintained that the father was the first -violinist in the world and that the daughter had the making of a -great artist. Her education and instruction were provided for. -She made rapid progress and charmed everybody with her prettiness, -her grace of manner and her genuine eagerness to please. - -When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae -and Christine with them. "Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as -her daughter. As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness. -He never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream -which he kept up with his violin. For hours at a time, he remained -locked up in his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, -very, very softly. Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen -behind the door, wipe away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, -sighing for her Scandinavian skies. - -Daae seemed not to recover his strength until the summer, -when the whole family went to stay at Perros-Guirec, in a far-away -corner of Brittany, where the sea was of the same color as in his -own country. Often he would play his saddest tunes on the beach -and pretend that the sea stopped its roaring to listen to them. -And then he induced Mamma Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his. -At the time of the "pardons," or Breton pilgrimages, the village -festival and dances, he went off with his fiddle, as in the old days, -and was allowed to take his daughter with him for a week. -They gave the smallest hamlets music to last them for a year and -slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at the inn, lying close -together on the straw, as when they were so poor in Sweden. -At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no collection, -refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around could -not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped -the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven. -They followed them from village to village. - -One day, a little boy, who was out with his governess, made her take -a longer walk than he intended, for he could not tear himself from -the little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed to bind him to her. -They came to the shore of an inlet which is still called Trestraou, -but which now, I believe, harbors a casino or something of the sort. -At that time, there was nothing but sky and sea and a stretch -of golden beach. Only, there was also a high wind, which blew -Christine's scarf out to sea. Christine gave a cry and put out -her arms, but the scarf was already far on the waves. Then she heard -a voice say: - -"It's all right, I'll go and fetch your scarf out of the sea." - -And she saw a little boy running fast, in spite of the outcries -and the indignant protests of a worthy lady in black. The little boy -ran into the sea, dressed as he was, and brought her back her scarf. -Boy and scarf were both soaked through. The lady in black made a -great fuss, but Christine laughed merrily and kissed the little boy, -who was none other than the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, staying at -Lannion with his aunt. - -During the season, they saw each other and played together almost -every day. At the aunt's request, seconded by Professor Valerius, -Daae consented to give the young viscount some violin lessons. -In this way, Raoul learned to love the same airs that had charmed -Christine's childhood. They also both had the same calm and dreamy -little cast of mind. They delighted in stories, in old Breton legends; -and their favorite sport was to go and ask for them at the cottage-doors, -like beggars: - -"Ma'am..." or, "Kind gentleman...have you a little story -to tell us, please?" - -And it seldom happened that they did not have one "given" them; -for nearly every old Breton grandame has, at least once in her life, -seen the "korrigans" dance by moonlight on the heather. - -But their great treat was, in the twilight, in the great silence -of the evening, after the sun had set in the sea, when Daae came -and sat down by them on the roadside and, in a low voice, as though -fearing lest he should frighten the ghosts whom he evoked, told them -the legends of the land of the North. And, the moment he stopped, -the children would ask for more. - -There was one story that began: - -"A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep, still lakes -that open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian mountains..." - -And another: - -"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden -as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes. -She wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her -frock and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, -when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music." - -While the old man told this story, Raoul looked at Christine's -blue eyes and golden hair; and Christine thought that Lotte was -very lucky to hear the Angel of Music when she went to sleep. -The Angel of Music played a part in all Daddy Daae's tales; -and he maintained that every great musician, every great artist -received a visit from the Angel at least once in his life. -Sometimes the Angel leans over their cradle, as happened to Lotte, -and that is how there are little prodigies who play the fiddle -at six better than men at fifty, which, you must admit, -is very wonderful. Sometimes, the Angel comes much later, -because the children are naughty and won't learn their lessons -or practise their scales. And, sometimes, he does not come at all, -because the children have a bad heart or a bad conscience. - -No one ever sees the Angel; but he is heard by those who are meant -to hear him. He often comes when they least expect him, when they -are sad and disheartened. Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial -harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives. -Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown -to the rest of mankind. And they can not touch an instrument, -or open their mouths to sing, without producing sounds that put -all other human sounds to shame. Then people who do not know -that the Angel has visited those persons say that they have genius. - -Little Christine asked her father if he had heard the Angel of Music. -But Daddy Daae shook his head sadly; and then his eyes lit up, -as he said: - -"You will hear him one day, my child! When I am in Heaven, -I will send him to you!" - -Daddy was beginning to cough at that time. - -Three years later, Raoul and Christine met again at Perros. -Professor Valerius was dead, but his widow remained in France -with Daddy Daae and his daughter, who continued to play the violin -and sing, wrapping in their dream of harmony their kind patroness, -who seemed henceforth to live on music alone. The young man, -as he now was, had come to Perros on the chance of finding them -and went straight to the house in which they used to stay. -He first saw the old man; and then Christine entered, carrying the -tea-tray. She flushed at the sight of Raoul, who went up to her -and kissed her. She asked him a few questions, performed her duties -as hostess prettily, took up the tray again and left the room. -Then she ran into the garden and took refuge on a bench, a prey -to feelings that stirred her young heart for the first time. -Raoul followed her and they talked till the evening, very shyly. -They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each -other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments. -When they took leave of each other by the roadside, Raoul, pressing a -kiss on Christine's trembling hand, said: - -"Mademoiselle, I shall never forget you!" - -And he went away regretting his words, for he knew that Christine -could not be the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny. - -As for Christine, she tried not to think of him and devoted herself -wholly to her art. She made wonderful progress and those who heard -her prophesied that she would be the greatest singer in the world. -Meanwhile, the father died; and, suddenly, she seemed to have lost, -with him, her voice, her soul and her genius. She retained just, -but only just, enough of this to enter the CONSERVATOIRE, where she -did not distinguish herself at all, attending the classes without -enthusiasm and taking a prize only to please old Mamma Valerius, -with whom she continued to live. - -The first time that Raoul saw Christine at the Opera, he was charmed -by the girl's beauty and by the sweet images of the past which -it evoked, but was rather surprised at the negative side of her art. -He returned to listen to her. He followed her in the wings. He waited -for her behind a Jacob's ladder. He tried to attract her attention. -More than once, he walked after her to the door of her box, but she -did not see him. She seemed, for that matter, to see nobody. -She was all indifference. Raoul suffered, for she was very beautiful -and he was shy and dared not confess his love, even to himself. -And then came the lightning-flash of the gala performance: -the heavens torn asunder and an angel's voice heard upon earth for -the delight of mankind and the utter capture of his heart. - -And then...and then there was that man's voice behind -the door--"You must love me!"--and no one in the room. ... - -Why did she laugh when he reminded her of the incident of the scarf? -Why did she not recognize him? And why had she written to him?... - -Perros was reached at last. Raoul walked into the smoky sitting-room -of the Setting Sun and at once saw Christine standing before him, -smiling and showing no astonishment. - -"So you have come," she said. "I felt that I should find you here, -when I came back from mass. Some one told me so, at the church." - -"Who?" asked Raoul, taking her little hand in his. - -"Why, my poor father, who is dead." - -There was a silence; and then Raoul asked: - -"Did your father tell you that I love you, Christine, and that I -can not live without you?" - -Christine blushed to the eyes and turned away her head. -In a trembling voice, she said: - -"Me? You are dreaming, my friend!" - -And she burst out laughing, to put herself in countenance. - -"Don't laugh, Christine; I am quite serious," Raoul answered. - -And she replied gravely: "I did not make you come to tell me -such things as that." - -"You `made me come,' Christine; you knew that your letter would -not leave me indignant and that I should hasten to Perros. -How can you have thought that, if you did not think I loved you?" - -"I thought you would remember our games here, as children, in which -my father so often joined. I really don't know what I thought. -... Perhaps I was wrong to write to you....This anniversary -and your sudden appearance in my room at the Opera, the other evening, -reminded me of the time long past and made me write to you as -the little girl that I then was. ..." - -There was something in Christine's attitude that seemed to Raoul -not natural. He did not feel any hostility in her; far from it: -the distressed affection shining in her eyes told him that. -But why was this affection distressed? That was what he wished to know -and what was irritating him. - -"When you saw me in your dressing-room, was that the first time -you noticed me, Christine?" - -She was incapable of lying. - -"No," she said, "I had seen you several times in your brother's box. -And also on the stage." - -"I thought so!" said Raoul, compressing his lips. "But then why, -when you saw me in your room, at your feet, reminding you that I -had rescued your scarf from the sea, why did you answer as though -you did not know me and also why did you laugh?" - -The tone of these questions was so rough that Christine stared -at Raoul without replying. The young man himself was aghast at -the sudden quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment -when he had resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and -submission to Christine. A husband, a lover with all rights, -would talk no differently to a wife, a mistress who had offended him. -But he had gone too far and saw no other way out of the ridiculous -position than to behave odiously. - -"You don't answer!" he said angrily and unhappily. "Well, I will -answer for you. It was because there was some one in the room -who was in your way, Christine, some one that you did not wish -to know that you could be interested in any one else!" - -"If any one was in my way, my friend," Christine broke in coldly, -"if any one was in my way, that evening, it was yourself, since I -told you to leave the room!" - -"Yes, so that you might remain with the other!" - -"What are you saying, monsieur?" asked the girl excitedly. -"And to what other do you refer?" - -"To the man to whom you said, `I sing only for you!...to-night -I gave you my soul and I am dead!'" - -Christine seized Raoul's arm and clutched it with a strength -which no one would have suspected in so frail a creature. - -"Then you were listening behind the door?" - -"Yes, because I love you everything....And I heard everything...." - -"You heard what?" - -And the young girl, becoming strangely calm, released Raoul's arm. - -"He said to you, `Christine, you must love me!'" - -At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, -dark rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the -point of swooning. Raoul darted forward, with arms outstretched, -but Christine had overcome her passing faintness and said, -in a low voice: - -"Go on! Go on! Tell me all you heard!" - -At an utter loss to understand, Raoul answered: "I heard -him reply, when you said you had given him your soul, -`Your soul is a beautiful thing, child, and I thank you. -No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.'" - -Christine carried her hand to her heart, a prey to indescribable -emotion. Her eyes stared before her like a madwoman's. Raoul -was terror-stricken. But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened -and two great tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks. - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul!" - -The young man tried to take her in his arms, but she escaped -and fled in great disorder. - -While Christine remained locked in her room, Raoul was at his wit's -end what to do. He refused to breakfast. He was terribly concerned -and bitterly grieved to see the hours, which he had hoped to find -so sweet, slip past without the presence of the young Swedish girl. -Why did she not come to roam with him through the country where they -had so many memories in common? He heard that she had had a mass said, -that morning, for the repose of her father's soul and spent a long -time praying in the little church and on the fiddler's tomb. -Then, as she seemed to have nothing more to do at Perros and, -in fact, was doing nothing there, why did she not go back to Paris -at once? - -Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church -stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; -but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the -dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground. -They were marvelous red roses that had blossomed in the morning, -in the snow, giving a glimpse of life among the dead, for death was -all around him. It also, like the flowers, issued from the ground, -which had flung back a number of its corpses. Skeletons and skulls -by the hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in -position by a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible. -Dead men's bones, arranged in rows, like bricks, to form the first -course upon which the walls of the sacristy had been built. -The door of the sacristy opened in the middle of that bony structure, -as is often seen in old Breton churches. - -Raoul said a prayer for Daae and then, painfully impressed by all -those eternal smiles on the mouths of skulls, he climbed the slope -and sat down on the edge of the heath overlooking the sea. -The wind fell with the evening. Raoul was surrounded by icy darkness, -but he did not feel the cold. It was here, he remembered, -that he used to come with little Christine to see the Korrigans -dance at the rising of the moon. He had never seen any, though his -eyes were good, whereas Christine, who was a little shortsighted, -pretended that she had seen many. He smiled at the thought and then -suddenly gave a start. A voice behind him said: - -"Do you think the Korrigans will come this evening?" - -It was Christine. He tried to speak. She put her gloved hand -on his mouth. - -"Listen, Raoul. I have decided to tell you something serious, -very serious....Do you remember the legend of the Angel -of Music?" - -"I do indeed," he said. "I believe it was here that your father -first told it to us." - -"And it was here that he said, `When I am in Heaven, my child, -I will send him to you.' Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, -and I have been visited by the Angel of Music." - -"I have no doubt of it," replied the young man gravely, for it -seemed to him that his friend, in obedience to a pious thought, -was connecting the memory of her father with the brilliancy of her -last triumph. - -Christine appeared astonished at the Vicomte de Chagny's coolness: - -"How do you understand it?" she asked, bringing her pale face -so close to his that he might have thought that Christine was going -to give him a kiss; but she only wanted to read his eyes in spite -of the dark. - -"I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you -sang the other evening without the intervention of some miracle. -No professor on earth can teach you such accents as those. -You have heard the Angel of Music, Christine." - -"Yes," she said solemnly, "IN MY DRESSING-ROOM. That is where he -comes to give me my lessons daily." - -"In your dressing-room?" he echoed stupidly. - -"Yes, that is where I have heard him; and I have not been the only -one to hear him." - -"Who else heard him, Christine?" - -"You, my friend." - -"I? I heard the Angel of Music?" - -"Yes, the other evening, it was he who was talking when you were -listening behind the door. It was he who said, `You must love me.' -But I then thought that I was the only one to hear his voice. -Imagine my astonishment when you told me, this morning, that you could -hear him too," - -Raoul burst out laughing. The first rays of the moon came and -shrouded the two young people in their light. Christine turned -on Raoul with a hostile air. Her eyes, usually so gentle, flashed fire. - -"What are you laughing at? YOU think you heard a man's voice, -I suppose?" - -"Well!..." replied the young man, whose ideas began to grow -confused in the face of Christine's determined attitude. - -"It's you, Raoul, who say that? You, an old playfellow of my own! -A friend of my father's! But you have changed since those days. -What are you thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, -and I don't lock myself up in my dressing-room with men's voices. -If you had opened the door, you would have seen that there was nobody -in the room!" - -"That's true! I did open the door, when you were gone, and I found -no one in the room." - -"So you see!...Well?" - -The viscount summoned up all his courage. - -"Well, Christine, I think that somebody is making game of you." - -She gave a cry and ran away. He ran after her, but, in a tone -of fierce anger, she called out: "Leave me! Leave me!" -And she disappeared. - -Raoul returned to the inn feeling very weary, very low-spirited -and very sad. He was told that Christine had gone to her bedroom -saying that she would not be down to dinner. Raoul dined alone, -in a very gloomy mood. Then he went to his room and tried to read, -went to bed and tried to sleep. There was no sound in the next room. - -The hours passed slowly. It was about half-past eleven when he -distinctly heard some one moving, with a light, stealthy step, -in the room next to his. Then Christine had not gone to bed! -Without troubling for a reason, Raoul dressed, taking care not -to make a sound, and waited. Waited for what? How could he tell? -But his heart thumped in his chest when he heard Christine's door -turn slowly on its hinges. Where could she be going, at this hour, -when every one was fast asleep at Perros? Softly opening the door, he -saw Christine's white form, in the moonlight, slipping along the passage. -She went down the stairs and he leaned over the baluster above her. -Suddenly he heard two voices in rapid conversation. He caught -one sentence: "Don't lose the key." - -It was the landlady's voice. The door facing the sea was opened -and locked again. Then all was still. - -Raoul ran back to his room and threw back the window. -Christine's white form stood on the deserted quay. - -The first floor of the Setting Sun was at no great height and a tree -growing against the wall held out its branches to Raoul's impatient -arms and enabled him to climb down unknown to the landlady. -Her amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, -the young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead -than alive, and when she learned that he had been found stretched -at full length on the steps of the high altar of the little church. -She ran at once to tell Christine, who hurried down and, -with the help of the landlady, did her best to revive him. -He soon opened his eyes and was not long in recovering when he saw -his friend's charming face leaning over him. - -A few weeks later, when the tragedy at the Opera compelled the -intervention of the public prosecutor, M. Mifroid, the commissary -of police, examined the Vicomte de Chagny touching the events of -the night at Perros. I quote the questions and answers as given -in the official report pp. 150 et seq.: - -Q. "Did Mlle. Daae not see you come down from your room -by the curious road which you selected?" - -R. "No, monsieur, no, although, when walking behind her, I took no -pains to deaden the sound of my footsteps. In fact, I was anxious -that she should turn round and see me. I realized that I had no excuse -for following her and that this way of spying on her was unworthy -of me. But she seemed not to hear me and acted exactly as though -I were not there. She quietly left the quay and then suddenly -walked quickly up the road. The church-clock had struck a quarter -to twelve and I thought that this must have made her hurry, for she -began almost to run and continued hastening until she came to the church." - -Q. "Was the gate open?" - -R. "Yes, monsieur, and this surprised me, but did not seem -to surprise Mlle. Daae." - -Q. "Was there no one in the churchyard?" - -R. "I did not see any one; and, if there had been, I must have seen him. -The moon was shining on the snow and made the night quite light." - -Q. "Was it possible for any one to hide behind the tombstones?" - -R. "No, monsieur. They were quite small, poor tombstones, partly hidden -under the snow, with their crosses just above the level of the ground. -The only shadows were those of the crosses and ourselves. -The church stood out quite brightly. I never saw so clear a night. -It was very fine and very cold and one could see everything." - -Q. "Are you at all superstitious?" - -R. "No, monsieur, I am a practising Catholic," - -Q. "In what condition of mind were you?" - -R. "Very healthy and peaceful, I assure you. Mlle. Daae's curious -action in going out at that hour had worried me at first; but, as soon -as I saw her go to the churchyard, I thought that she meant to fulfil -some pious duty on her father's grave and I considered this so natural -that I recovered all my calmness. I was only surprised that she -had not heard me walking behind her, for my footsteps were quite -audible on the hard snow. But she must have been taken up with her -intentions and I resolved not to disturb her. She knelt down by -her father's grave, made the sign of the cross and began to pray. -At that moment, it struck midnight. At the last stroke, I saw -Mlle. Daae life{sic} her eyes to the sky and stretch out her arms -as though in ecstasy. I was wondering what the reason could be, -when I myself raised my head and everything within me seemed drawn -toward the invisible, WHICH WAS PLAYING THE MOST PERFECT MUSIC! -Christine and I knew that music; we had heard it as children. -But it had never been executed with such divine art, even by M. Daae. -I remembered all that Christine had told me of the Angel of Music. -The air was The Resurrection of Lazarus, which old M. Daae -used to play to us in his hours of melancholy and of faith. -If Christine's Angel had existed, he could not have played better, -that night, on the late musician's violin. When the music stopped, -I seemed to hear a noise from the skulls in the heap of bones; -it was as though they were chuckling and I could not help shuddering." - -Q. "Did it not occur to you that the musician might be hiding -behind that very heap of bones?" - -R. "It was the one thought that did occur to me, monsieur, so much -so that I omitted to follow Mlle. Daae, when she stood up and walked -slowly to the gate. She was so much absorbed just then that I -am not surprised that she did not see me." - -Q. "Then what happened that you were found in the morning lying -half-dead on the steps of the high altar?" - -R. "First a skull rolled to my feet...then another...then -another...It was as if I were the mark of that ghastly game -of bowls. And I had an idea that false step must have destroyed -the balance of the structure behind which our musician was concealed. -This surmise seemed to be confirmed when I saw a shadow suddenly -glide along the sacristy wall. I ran up. The shadow had already -pushed open the door and entered the church. But I was quicker than -the shadow and caught hold of a corner of its cloak. At that moment, -we were just in front of the high altar; and the moonbeams fell -straight upon us through the stained-glass windows of the apse. -As I did not let go of the cloak, the shadow turned round; and I -saw a terrible death's head, which darted a look at me from a pair -of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan; -and, in the presence of this unearthly apparition, my heart gave way, -my courage failed me...and I remember nothing more until I -recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun." - - - -Chapter VI A Visit to Box Five - - -We left M. Firmin Richard and M. Armand Moncharmin at the moment -when they were deciding "to look into that little matter of Box Five." - -Leaving behind them the broad staircase which leads from the lobby -outside the managers' offices to the stage and its dependencies, -they crossed the stage, went out by the subscribers' door and -entered the house through the first little passage on the left. -Then they made their way through the front rows of stalls and -looked at Box Five on the grand tier, They could not see it well, -because it was half in darkness and because great covers were flung -over the red velvet of the ledges of all the boxes. - -They were almost alone in the huge, gloomy house; and a great silence -surrounded them. It was the time when most of the stage-hands go -out for a drink. The staff had left the boards for the moment, -leaving a scene half set. A few rays of light, a wan, sinister light, -that seemed to have been stolen from an expiring luminary, -fell through some opening or other upon an old tower that raised -its pasteboard battlements on the stage; everything, in this -deceptive light, adopted a fantastic shape. In the orchestra stalls, -the drugget covering them looked like an angry sea, whose glaucous -waves had been suddenly rendered stationary by a secret order -from the storm phantom, who, as everybody knows, is called Adamastor. -MM. Moncharmin and Richard were the shipwrecked mariners -amid this motionless turmoil of a calico sea. They made -for the left boxes, plowing their way like sailors who leave their -ship and try to struggle to the shore. The eight great polished -columns stood up in the dusk like so many huge piles supporting -the threatening, crumbling, big-bellied cliffs whose layers were -represented by the circular, parallel, waving lines of the balconies -of the grand, first and second tiers of boxes. At the top, -right on top of the cliff, lost in M. Lenepveu's copper ceiling, -figures grinned and grimaced, laughed and jeered at MM. Richard and -Moncharmin's distress. And yet these figures were usually very serious. -Their names were Isis, Amphitrite, Hebe, Pandora, Psyche, Thetis, -Pomona, Daphne, Clytie, Galatea and Arethusa. Yes, Arethusa herself -and Pandora, whom we all know by her box, looked down upon the two -new managers of the Opera, who ended by clutching at some piece -of wreckage and from there stared silently at Box Five on the grand tier. - -I have said that they were distressed. At least, I presume so. -M. Moncharmin, in any case, admits that he was impressed. To quote -his own words, in his Memoirs: - -"This moonshine about the Opera ghost in which, since we first -took over the duties of MM. Poligny and Debienne, we had been -so nicely steeped"--Moncharmin's style is not always irreproachable-- -"had no doubt ended by blinding my imaginative and also my -visual faculties. It may be that the exceptional surroundings -in which we found ourselves, in the midst of an incredible silence, -impressed us to an unusual extent. It may be that we were the sport -of a kind of hallucination brought about by the semi-darkness of -the theater and the partial gloom that filled Box Five. At any rate, -I saw and Richard also saw a shape in the box. Richard said nothing, -nor I either. But we spontaneously seized each other's hand. -We stood like that for some minutes, without moving, with our -eyes fixed on the same point; but the figure had disappeared. -Then we went out and, in the lobby, communicated our impressions -to each other and talked about `the shape.' The misfortune was that -my shape was not in the least like Richard's. I had seen a thing -like a death's head resting on the ledge of the box, whereas Richard -saw the shape of an old woman who looked like Mme. Giry. We soon -discovered that we had really been the victims of an illusion, -whereupon, without further delay and laughing like madmen, we ran -to Box Five on the grand tier, went inside and found no shape of any kind." - -Box Five is just like all the other grand tier boxes. There is -nothing to distinguish it from any of the others. M. Moncharmin -and M. Richard, ostensibly highly amused and laughing at each other, -moved the furniture of the box, lifted the cloths and the chairs -and particularly examined the arm-chair in which "the man's voice" -used to sit. But they saw that it was a respectable arm-chair, -with no magic about it. Altogether, the box was the most ordinary box -in the world, with its red hangings, its chairs, its carpet and its ledge -covered in red velvet. After, feeling the carpet in the most serious -manner possible, and discovering nothing more here or anywhere else, -they went down to the corresponding box on the pit tier below. -In Box Five on the pit tier, which is just inside the first exit -from the stalls on the left, they found nothing worth mentioning either. - -"Those people are all making fools of us!" Firmin Richard ended -by exclaiming. "It will be FAUST on Saturday: let us both see -the performance from Box Five on the grand tier!" - - - -Chapter VII Faust and What Followed - - -On the Saturday morning, on reaching their office, the joint -managers found a letter from O. G. worded in these terms: - -MY DEAR MANAGERS: - -So it is to be war between us? - -If you still care for peace, here is my ultimatum. It consists -of the four following conditions: - -1. You must give me back my private box; and I wish it to be at -my free disposal from henceforward. - -2. The part of Margarita shall be sung this evening by Christine Daae. -Never mind about Carlotta; she will be ill. - -3. I absolutely insist upon the good and loyal services of Mme. Giry, -my box-keeper, whom you will reinstate in her functions forthwith. - -4. Let me know by a letter handed to Mme. Giry, who will see -that it reaches me, that you accept, as your predecessors did, -the conditions in my memorandum-book relating to my monthly allowance. -I will inform you later how you are to pay it to me. - -If you refuse, you will give FAUST to-night in a house with a curse -upon it. - -Take my advice and be warned in time. O. G. - -"Look here, I'm getting sick of him, sick of him!" shouted Richard, -bringing his fists down on his office-table. - -Just then, Mercier, the acting-manager, entered. - -"Lachenel would like to see one of you gentlemen," he said. -"He says that his business is urgent and he seems quite upset." - -"Who's Lachenel?" asked Richard. - -"He's your stud-groom." - -"What do you mean? My stud-groom?" - -"Yes, sir," explained Mercier, "there are several grooms at the Opera -and M. Lachenel is at the head of them." - -"And what does this groom do?" - -"He has the chief management of the stable." - -"What stable?" - -"Why, yours, sir, the stable of the Opera." - -"Is there a stable at the Opera? Upon my word, I didn't know. -Where is it?" - -"In the cellars, on the Rotunda side. It's a very important department; -we have twelve horses." - -"Twelve horses! And what for, in Heaven's name?" - -"Why, we want trained horses for the processions in the Juive, -The Profeta and so on; horses `used to the boards.' It is the grooms' -business to teach them. M. Lachenel is very clever at it. He used -to manage Franconi's stables." - -"Very well...but what does he want?" - -"I don't know; I never saw him in such a state." - -"He can come in." - -M. Lachenel came in, carrying a riding-whip, with which he struck -his right boot in an irritable manner. - -"Good morning, M. Lachenel," said Richard, somewhat impressed. -"To what do we owe the honor of your visit?" - -"Mr. Manager, I have come to ask you to get rid of the whole stable." - -"What, you want to get rid of our horses?" - -"I'm not talking of the horses, but of the stablemen." - -"How many stablemen have you, M. Lachenel?" - -"Six stablemen! That's at least two too many." - -"These are `places,'" Mercier interposed, "created and forced -upon us by the under-secretary for fine arts. They are filled -by protegees of the government and, if I may venture to..." - -"I don't care a hang for the government!" roared Richard. -"We don't need more than four stablemen for twelve horses." - -"Eleven," said the head riding-master, correcting him. - -"Twelve," repeated Richard. - -"Eleven," repeated Lachenel. - -"Oh, the acting-manager told me that you had twelve horses!" - -"I did have twelve, but I have only eleven since Cesar was stolen." - -And M. Lachenel gave himself a great smack on the boot with his whip. - -"Has Cesar been stolen?" cried the acting-manager. "Cesar, the white -horse in the Profeta?" - -"There are not two Cesars," said the stud-groom dryly. "I was ten -years at Franconi's and I have seen plenty of horses in my time. -Well, there are not two Cesars. And he's been stolen." - -"How?" - -"I don't know. Nobody knows. That's why I have come to ask you -to sack the whole stable." - -"What do your stablemen say?" - -"All sorts of nonsense. Some of them accuse the supers. -Others pretend that it's the acting-manager's doorkeeper..." - -"My doorkeeper? I'll answer for him as I would for myself!" -protested Mercier. - -"But, after all, M. Lachenel," cried Richard, "you must have some idea." - -"Yes, I have," M. Lachenel declared. "I have an idea and I'll -tell you what it is. There's no doubt about it in my mind." -He walked up to the two managers and whispered. "It's the ghost -who did the trick!" - -Richard gave a jump. - -"What, you too! You too!" - -"How do you mean, I too? Isn't it natural, after what I saw?" - -"What did you see?" - -"I saw, as clearly as I now see you, a black shadow riding a white -horse that was as like Cesar as two peas!" - -"And did you run after them?" - -"I did and I shouted, but they were too fast for me and disappeared -in the darkness of the underground gallery." - -M. Richard rose. "That will do, M. Lachenel. You can go.... -We will lodge a complaint against THE GHOST." - -"And sack my stable?" - -"Oh, of course! Good morning." - -M. Lachenel bowed and withdrew. Richard foamed at the mouth. - -"Settle that idiot's account at once, please." - -"He is a friend of the government representative's!" Mercier ventured -to say. - -"And he takes his vermouth at Tortoni's with Lagrene, Scholl and Pertuiset, -the lion-hunter," added Moncharmin. "We shall have the whole press -against us! He'll tell the story of the ghost; and everybody -will be laughing at our expense! We may as well be dead as ridiculous!" - -"All right, say no more about it." - -At that moment the door opened. It must have been deserted -by its usual Cerberus, for Mme. Giry entered without ceremony, -holding a letter in her hand, and said hurriedly: - -"I beg your pardon, excuse me, gentlemen, but I had a letter this -morning from the Opera ghost. He told me to come to you, that you -had something to..." - -She did not complete the sentence. She saw Firmin Richard's face; -and it was a terrible sight. He seemed ready to burst. He said nothing, -he could not speak. But suddenly he acted. First, his left arm -seized upon the quaint person of Mme. Giry and made her describe -so unexpected a semicircle that she uttered a despairing cry. -Next, his right foot imprinted its sole on the black taffeta of a -skirt which certainly had never before undergone a similar outrage -in a similar place. The thing happened so quickly that Mme. Giry, -when in the passage, was still quite bewildered and seemed not -to understand. But, suddenly, she understood; and the Opera -rang with her indignant yells, her violent protests and threats. - -About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own -in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, rang for her maid, who brought -her letters to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, -written in red ink, in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran: - -If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune -at the moment when you open your mouth to sing...a misfortune -worse than death. - -The letter took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. -She pushed back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. -It was not the first letter of the kind which she had received, -but she never had one couched in such threatening terms. - -She thought herself, at that time, the victim of a thousand jealous -attempts and went about saying that she had a secret enemy who had -sworn to ruin her. She pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched -against her, a cabal which would come to a head one of those days; -but she added that she was not the woman to be intimidated. - -The truth is that, if there was a cabal, it was led by Carlotta -herself against poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. -Carlotta had never forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had -achieved when taking her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta -heard of the astounding reception bestowed upon her understudy, -she was at once cured of an incipient attack of bronchitis and a -bad fit of sulking against the management and lost the slightest -inclination to shirk her duties. From that time, she worked with all -her might to "smother" her rival, enlisting the services of influential -friends to persuade the managers not to give Christine an opportunity -for a fresh triumph. Certain newspapers which had begun to extol -the talent of Christine now interested themselves only in the fame -of Carlotta. Lastly, in the theater itself, the celebrated, -but heartless and soulless diva made the most scandalous remarks -about Christine and tried to cause her endless minor unpleasantnesses. - -When Carlotta had finished thinking over the threat contained -in the strange letter, she got up. - -"We shall see," she said, adding a few oaths in her native Spanish -with a very determined air. - -The first thing she saw, when looking out of her window, was a hearse. -She was very superstitious; and the hearse and the letter convinced -her that she was running the most serious dangers that evening. -She collected all her supporters, told them that she was threatened -at that evening's performance with a plot organized by Christine Daae -and declared that they must play a trick upon that chit by filling -the house with her, Carlotta's, admirers. She had no lack of them, -had she? She relied upon them to hold themselves prepared for any -eventuality and to silence the adversaries, if, as she feared, -they created a disturbance. - -M. Richard's private secretary called to ask after the diva's health -and returned with the assurance that she was perfectly well and that, -"were she dying," she would sing the part of Margarita that evening. -The secretary urged her, in his chief's name, to commit no imprudence, -to stay at home all day and to be careful of drafts; and Carlotta could -not help, after he had gone, comparing this unusual and unexpected -advice with the threats contained in the letter. - -It was five o'clock when the post brought a second anonymous letter -in the same hand as the first. It was short and said simply: - -You have a bad cold. If you are wise, you will see that it -is madness to try to sing to-night. - -Carlotta sneered, shrugged her handsome shoulders and sang two -or three notes to reassure herself. - -Her friends were faithful to their promise. They were all at the Opera -that night, but looked round in vain for the fierce conspirators -whom they were instructed to suppress. The only unusual thing -was the presence of M. Richard and M. Moncharmin in Box Five. -Carlotta's friends thought that, perhaps, the managers had wind, -on their side, of the proposed disturbance and that they had -determined to be in the house, so as to stop it then and there; -but this was unjustifiable supposition, as the reader knows. -M. Richard and M. Moncharmin were thinking of nothing but their ghost. - -"Vain! In vain do I call, through my vigil weary, On creation -and its Lord! Never reply will break the silence dreary! No sign! -No single word!" - -The famous baritone, Carolus Fonta, had hardly finished Doctor Faust's -first appeal to the powers of darkness, when M. Firmin Richard, -who was sitting in the ghost's own chair, the front chair on the right, -leaned over to his partner and asked him chaffingly: - -"Well, has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet?" - -"Wait, don't be in such a hurry," replied M. Armand Moncharmin, -in the same gay tone. "The performance has only begun and you know -that the ghost does not usually come until the middle of the first act." - -The first act passed without incident, which did not surprise -Carlotta's friends, because Margarita does not sing in this act. -As for the managers, they looked at each other, when the curtain fell. - -"That's one!" said Moncharmin. - -"Yes, the ghost is late," said Firmin Richard. - -"It's not a bad house," said Moncharmin, "for `a house with a curse -on it.'" - -M. Richard smiled and pointed to a fat, rather vulgar woman, -dressed in black, sitting in a stall in the middle of the auditorium -with a man in a broadcloth frock-coat on either side of her. - -"Who on earth are `those?'" asked Moncharmin. - -"`Those,' my dear fellow, are my concierge, her husband and her brother." - -"Did you give them their tickets?" - -"I did. .. My concierge had never been to the Opera--this is, -the first time--and, as she is now going to come every night, -I wanted her to have a good seat, before spending her time showing -other people to theirs." - -Moncharmin asked what he meant and Richard answered that he had -persuaded his concierge, in whom he had the greatest confidence, -to come and take Mme. Giry's place. Yes, he would like to see if, -with that woman instead of the old lunatic, Box Five would continue -to astonish the natives? - -"By the way," said Moncharmin, "you know that Mother Giry is going -to lodge a complaint against you." - -"With whom? The ghost?" - -The ghost! Moncharmin had almost forgotten him. However, that mysterious -person did nothing to bring himself to the memory of the managers; -and they were just saying so to each other for the second time, -when the door of the box suddenly opened to admit the startled -stage-manager. - -"What's the matter?" they both asked, amazed at seeing him there -at such a time. - -"It seems there's a plot got up by Christine Daae's friends -against Carlotta. Carlotta's furious." - -"What on earth...?" said Richard, knitting his brows. - -But the curtain rose on the kermess scene and Richard made a sign -to the stage-manager to go away. When the two were alone again, -Moncharmin leaned over to Richard: - -"Then Daae has friends?" he asked. - -"Yes, she has." - -"Whom?" - -Richard glanced across at a box on the grand tier containing -no one but two men. - -"The Comte de Chagny?" - -"Yes, he spoke to me in her favor with such warmth that, if I -had not known him to be Sorelli's friend..." - -"Really? Really?" said Moncharmin. "And who is that pale young -man beside him?" - -"That's his brother, the viscount." - -"He ought to be in his bed. He looks ill." - -The stage rang with gay song: - - "Red or white liquor, - Coarse or fine! - What can it matter, - So we have wine?" - -Students, citizens, soldiers, girls and matrons whirled light-heartedly -before the inn with the figure of Bacchus for a sign. Siebel made -her entrance. Christine Daae looked charming in her boy's clothes; -and Carlotta's partisans expected to hear her greeted with an ovation -which would have enlightened them as to the intentions of her friends. -But nothing happened. - -On the other hand, when Margarita crossed the stage and sang -the only two lines allotted her in this second act: - - "No, my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty, - And do not need an arm to help me on my way," - -Carlotta was received with enthusiastic applause. It was so -unexpected and so uncalled for that those who knew nothing about -the rumors looked at one another and asked what was happening. -And this act also was finished without incident. - -Then everybody said: "Of course, it will be during the next act." - -Some, who seemed to be better informed than the rest, declared that -the "row" would begin with the ballad of the KING OF THULE and rushed -to the subscribers' entrance to warn Carlotta. The managers left -the box during the entr'acte to find out more about the cabal of which -the stage-manager had spoken; but they soon returned to their seats, -shrugging their shoulders and treating the whole affair as silly. - -The first thing they saw, on entering the box, was a box of English -sweets on the little shelf of the ledge. Who had put it there? -They asked the box-keepers, but none of them knew. Then they went back -to the shelf and, next to the box of sweets, found an opera glass. -They looked at each other. They had no inclination to laugh. -All that Mme. Giry had told them returned to their memory...and -then...and then...they seemed to feel a curious sort of draft -around them....They sat down in silence. - -The scene represented Margarita's garden: - - "Gentle flow'rs in the dew, - Be message from me..." - -As she sang these first two lines, with her bunch of roses and lilacs -in her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de Chagny -in his box; and, from that moment, her voice seemed less sure, -less crystal-clear than usual. Something seemed to deaden and dull -her singing. ... - -"What a queer girl she is!" said one of Carlotta's friends -in the stalls, almost aloud. "The other day she was divine; -and to-night she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training." - - "Gentle flow'rs, lie ye there - And tell her from me..." - -The viscount put his head under his hands and wept. The count, behind -him, viciously gnawed his mustache, shrugged his shoulders and frowned. -For him, usually so cold and correct, to betray his inner feelings -like that, by outward signs, the count must be very angry. He was. -He had seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey -in an alarming state of health. The explanation that followed was -unsatisfactory and the count asked Christine Daae for an appointment. -She had the audacity to reply that she could not see either him -or his brother. ... - - "Would she but deign to hear me - And with one smile to cheer me..." - -"The little baggage!" growled the count. - -And he wondered what she wanted. What she was hoping for. -...She was a virtuous girl, she was said to have no friend, -no protector of any sort....That angel from the North must be -very artful! - -Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, -thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris, -where Christine, fleeing from Perros like a thief in the night, -had arrived before him: - -MY DEAR LITTLE PLAYFELLOW: - -You must have the courage not to see me again, not to speak of -me again. If you love me just a little, do this for me, for me -who will never forget you, my dear Raoul. My life depends upon it. -Your life depends upon it. YOUR LITTLE CHRISTINE. - -Thunders of applause. Carlotta made her entrance. - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is..." - -When Margarita had finished singing the ballad of the KING OF THULE, -she was loudly cheered and again when she came to the end -of the jewel song: - - "Ah, the joy of past compare - These jewels bright to wear!..." - -Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, -certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung -herself into her part without restraint of modesty....She was no -longer Margarita, she was Carmen. She was applauded all the more; -and her debut with Faust seemed about to bring her a new success, -when suddenly...a terrible thing happened. - -Faust had knelt on one knee: - - "Let me gaze on the form below me, - While from yonder ether blue - Look how the star of eve, bright and tender, - lingers o'er me, - To love thy beauty too!" - -And Margarita replied: - - "Oh, how strange! - Like a spell does the evening bind me! - And a deep languid charm - I feel without alarm - With its melody enwind me - And all my heart subdue." - -At that moment, at that identical moment, the terrible thing happened. -...Carlotta croaked like a toad: - -"Co-ack!" - -There was consternation on Carlotta's face and consternation on -the faces of all the audience. The two managers in their box could -not suppress an exclamation of horror. Every one felt that the thing -was not natural, that there was witchcraft behind it. That toad -smelt of brimstone. Poor, wretched, despairing, crushed Carlotta! - -The uproar in the house was indescribable. If the thing had -happened to any one but Carlotta, she would have been hooted. -But everybody knew how perfect an instrument her voice was; -and there was no display of anger, but only of horror and dismay, -the sort of dismay which men would have felt if they had witnessed -the catastrophe that broke the arms of the Venus de Milo. -... And even then they would have seen...and understood... - -But here that toad was incomprehensible! So much so that, -after some seconds spent in asking herself if she had really -heard that note, that sound, that infernal noise issue from -her throat, she tried to persuade herself that it was not so, -that she was the victim of an illusion, an illusion of the ear, -and not of an act of treachery on the part of her voice. ... - -Meanwhile, in Box Five, Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. -This extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread -which was the more mysterious inasmuch as for some little while, -they had fallen within the direct influence of the ghost. They had -felt his breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end. Richard wiped the -perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost was there, around them, -behind them, beside them; they felt his presence without seeing him, -they heard his breath, close, close, close to them!...They were -sure that there were three people in the box....They trembled -....They thought of running away....They dared not.... -They dared not make a movement or exchange a word that would -have told the ghost that they knew that he was there!...What -was going to happen? - -This happened. - -"Co-ack!" Their joint exclamation of horror was heard all over the house. -THEY FELT THAT THEY WERE SMARTING UNDER THE GHOST'S ATTACKS. -Leaning over the ledge of their box, they stared at Carlotta -as though they did not recognize her. That infernal girl must -have given the signal for some catastrophe. Ah, they were waiting -for the catastrophe! The ghost had told them it would come! -The house had a curse upon it! The two managers gasped and panted -under the weight of the catastrophe. Richard's stifled voice was -heard calling to Carlotta: - -"Well, go on!" - -No, Carlotta did not go on....Bravely, heroically, she started -afresh on the fatal line at the end of which the toad had appeared. - -An awful silence succeeded the uproar. Carlotta's voice alone once -more filled the resounding house: - -"I feel without alarm..." - -The audience also felt, but not without alarm. .. - - "I feel without alarm... - I feel without alarm--co-ack! - With its melody enwind me--co-ack! - And all my heart sub--co-ack!" - -The toad also had started afresh! - -The house broke into a wild tumult. The two managers collapsed -in their chairs and dared not even turn round; they had not -the strength; the ghost was chuckling behind their backs! -And, at last, they distinctly heard his voice in their right ears, -the impossible voice, the mouthless voice, saying: - -"SHE IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!" - -With one accord, they raised their eyes to the ceiling and uttered -a terrible cry. The chandelier, the immense mass of the chandelier was -slipping down, coming toward them, at the call of that fiendish voice. -Released from its hook, it plunged from the ceiling and came smashing -into the middle of the stalls, amid a thousand shouts of terror. -A wild rush for the doors followed. - -The papers of the day state that there were numbers wounded -and one killed. The chandelier had crashed down upon the head -of the wretched woman who had come to the Opera for the first time -in her life, the one whom M. Richard had appointed to succeed -Mme. Giry, the ghost's box-keeper, in her functions! She died on -the spot and, the next morning, a newspaper appeared with this heading: - -TWO HUNDRED KILOS ON THE HEAD OF A CONCIERGE - -That was her sole epitaph! - - - -Chapter VIII The Mysterious Brougham - - -That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill. -As for Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. -A fortnight elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera -nor outside. - -Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima -donna's absence. He wrote to her at Mme. Valerius' flat and received -no reply. His grief increased and he ended by being seriously alarmed -at never seeing her name on the program. FAUST was played without her. - -One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason -of Christine's disappearance. He found them both looking -extremely worried. Their own friends did not recognize them: -they had lost all their gaiety and spirits. They were seen crossing -the stage with hanging heads, care-worn brows, pale cheeks, as though -pursued by some abominable thought or a prey to some persistent sport -of fate. - -The fall of the chandelier had involved them in no little responsibility; -but it was difficult to make them speak about it. The inquest had -ended in a verdict of accidental death, caused by the wear and tear -of the chains by which the chandelier was hung from the ceiling; -but it was the duty of both the old and the new managers to have -discovered this wear and tear and to have remedied it in time. -And I feel bound to say that MM. Richard and Moncharmin at this -time appeared so changed, so absent-minded, so mysterious, -so incomprehensible that many of the subscribers thought that some -event even more horrible than the fall of the chandelier must -have affected their state of mind. - -In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, -except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions. -And their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask -about Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him -that she was taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, -and they replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, -as Mlle. Daae had requested leave of absence for reasons of health. - -"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?" - -"We don't know." - -"Didn't you send the doctor of the Opera to see her?" - -"No, she did not ask for him; and, as we trust her, we took her word." - -Raoul left the building a prey to the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved, -come what might, to go and inquire of Mamma Valerius. He remembered -the strong phrases in Christine's letter, forbidding him to make -any attempt to see her. But what he had seen at Perros, what he had -heard behind the dressing-room door, his conversation with Christine -at the edge of the moor made him suspect some machination which, -devilish though it might be, was none the less human. The girl's -highly strung imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, -the primitive education which had surrounded her childhood with a -circle of legends, the constant brooding over her dead father and, -above all, the state of sublime ecstasy into which music threw her -from the moment that this art was made manifest to her in certain -exceptional conditions, as in the churchyard at Perros; all this -seemed to him to constitute a moral ground only too favorable for -the malevolent designs of some mysterious and unscrupulous person. -Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? This was the very reasonable -question which Raoul put to himself as he hurried off to Mamma Valerius. - -He trembled as he rang at a little flat in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. -The door was opened by the maid whom he had seen coming out of Christine's -dressing-room one evening. He asked if he could speak to Mme. Valerius. -He was told that she was ill in bed and was not receiving visitors. - -"Take in my card, please," he said. - -The maid soon returned and showed him into a small and scantily -furnished drawing-room, in which portraits of Professor Valerius -and old Daae hung on opposite walls. - -"Madame begs Monsieur le Vicomte to excuse her," said the servant. -"She can only see him in her bedroom, because she can no longer stand -on her poor legs." - -Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he -at once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress -in the semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now -quite white, but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, -had their expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like. - -"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her visitor. -"Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here!...We can talk of HER." - -This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears. -He at once asked: - -"Madame...where is Christine?" - -And the old lady replied calmly: - -"She is with her good genius!" - -"What good genius?" exclaimed poor Raoul. - -"Why, the Angel of Music!" - -The viscount dropped into a chair. Really? Christine was with -the Angel of Music? And there lay Mamma Valerius in bed, smiling to -him and putting her finger to her lips, to warn him to be silent! -And she added: - -"You must not tell anybody!" - -"You can rely on me," said Raoul. - -He hardly knew what he was saying, for his ideas about Christine, -already greatly confused, were becoming more and more entangled; -and it seemed as if everything was beginning to turn around him, -around the room, around that extraordinary good lady with the white hair -and forget-me-not eyes. - -"I know! I know I can!" she said, with a happy laugh. "But why don't -you come near me, as you used to do when you were a little boy? -Give me your hands, as when you brought me the story of little Lotte, -which Daddy Daae had told you. I am very fond of you, M. Raoul, -you know. And so is Christine too!" - -"She is fond of me!" sighed the young man. He found a difficulty -in collecting his thoughts and bringing them to bear on Mamma Valerius' -"good genius," on the Angel of Music of whom Christine had spoken -to him so strangely, on the death's head which he had seen in a sort -of nightmare on the high altar at Perros and also on the Opera ghost, -whose fame had come to his ears one evening when he was standing -behind the scenes, within hearing of a group of scene-shifters -who were repeating the ghastly description which the hanged man, -Joseph Buquet, had given of the ghost before his mysterious death. - -He asked in a low voice: "What makes you think that Christine -is fond of me, madame?" - -"She used to speak of you every day." - -"Really?...And what did she tell you?" - -"She told me that you had made her a proposal!" - -And the good old lady began laughing wholeheartedly. Raoul sprang -from his chair, flushing to the temples, suffering agonies. - -"What's this? Where are you going? Sit down again at once, -will you?...Do you think I will let you go like that?...If -you're angry with me for laughing, I beg your pardon. .. After all, -what has happened isn't your fault. .. Didn't you know?...Did -you think that Christine was free?..." - -"Is Christine engaged to be married?" the wretched Raoul asked, -in a choking voice. - -"Why no! Why no!...You know as well as I do that Christine -couldn't marry, even if she wanted to!" - -"But I don't know anything about it!...And why can't Christine marry?" - -"Because of the Angel of Music, of course!..." - -"I don't follow..." - -"Yes, he forbids her to!..." - -"He forbids her!...The Angel of Music forbids her to marry!" - -"Oh, he forbids her...without forbidding her. It's like this: -he tells her that, if she got married, she would never hear -him again. That's all!...And that he would go away for ever! -.. So, you understand, she can't let the Angel of Music go. -It's quite natural." - -"Yes, yes," echoed Raoul submissively, "it's quite natural." - -"Besides, I thought Christine had told you all that, when she met -you at Perros, where she went with her good genius." - -"Oh, she went to Perros with her good genius, did she?" - -"That is to say, he arranged to meet her down there, -in Perros churchyard, at Daae's grave. He promised -to play her The Resurrection of Lazarus on her father's violin!" - -Raoul de Chagny rose and, with a very authoritative air, -pronounced these peremptory words: - -"Madame, you will have the goodness to tell me where that genius lives." - -The old lady did not seem surprised at this indiscreet command. -She raised her eyes and said: - -"In Heaven!" - -Such simplicity baffled him. He did not know what to say in -the presence of this candid and perfect faith in a genius who came -down nightly from Heaven to haunt the dressing-rooms at the Opera. - -He now realized the possible state of mind of a girl brought up -between a superstitious fiddler and a visionary old lady and he -shuddered when he thought of the consequences of it all. - -"Is Christine still a good girl?" he asked suddenly, in spite -of himself. - -"I swear it, as I hope to be saved!" exclaimed the -old woman, who, this time, seemed to be incensed. -"And, if you doubt it, sir, I don't know what you are here for!" - -Raoul tore at his gloves. - -"How long has she known this `genius?'" - -"About three months....Yes, it's quite three months since he -began to give her lessons." - -The viscount threw up his arms with a gesture of despair. - -"The genius gives her lessons!...And where, pray?" - -"Now that she has gone away with him, I can't say; but, up to a fortnight -ago, it was in Christine's dressing-room. It would be impossible in this -little flat. The whole house would hear them. Whereas, at the Opera, -at eight o'clock in the morning, there is no one about, do you see!" - -"Yes, I see! I see!" cried the viscount. - -And he hurriedly took leave of Mme. Valerius, who asked herself -if the young nobleman was not a little off his head. - -He walked home to his brother's house in a pitiful state. -He could have struck himself, banged his head against the walls! -To think that he had believed in her innocence, in her purity! -The Angel of Music! He knew him now! He saw him! It was beyond -a doubt some unspeakable tenor, a good-looking jackanapes, who mouthed -and simpered as he sang! He thought himself as absurd and as wretched -as could be. Oh, what a miserable, little, insignificant, silly young -man was M. le Vicomte de Chagny! thought Raoul, furiously. And she, -what a bold and damnable sly creature! - -His brother was waiting for him and Raoul fell into his arms, -like a child. The count consoled him, without asking for explanations; -and Raoul would certainly have long hesitated before telling him -the story of the Angel of Music. His brother suggested taking him -out to dinner. Overcome as he was with despair, Raoul would probably -have refused any invitation that evening, if the count had not, -as an inducement, told him that the lady of his thoughts had been seen, -the night before, in company of the other sex in the Bois. -At first, the viscount refused to believe; but he received such exact -details that he ceased protesting. She had been seen, it appeared, -driving in a brougham, with the window down. She seemed to be slowly -taking in the icy night air. There was a glorious moon shining. -She was recognized beyond a doubt. As for her companion, only his -shadowy outline was distinguished leaning back in the dark. -The carriage was going at a walking pace in a lonely drive behind -the grand stand at Longchamp. - -Raoul dressed in frantic haste, prepared to forget his distress -by flinging himself, as people say, into "the vortex of pleasure." -Alas, he was a very sorry guest and, leaving his brother early, -found himself, by ten o'clock in the evening, in a cab, -behind the Longchamp race-course. - -It was bitterly cold. The road seemed deserted and very bright -under the moonlight. He told the driver to wait for him patiently at -the corner of a near turning and, hiding himself as well as he could, -stood stamping his feet to keep warm. He had been indulging -in this healthy exercise for half an hour or so, when a carriage -turned the corner of the road and came quietly in his direction, -at a walking pace. - -As it approached, he saw that a woman was leaning her head from -the window. And, suddenly, the moon shed a pale gleam over her features. - -"Christine!" - -The sacred name of his love had sprung from his heart and his lips. -He could not keep it back. .. He would have given anything -to withdraw it, for that name, proclaimed in the stillness of -the night, had acted as though it were the preconcerted signal -for a furious rush on the part of the whole turn-out, which dashed -past him before he could put into execution his plan of leaping -at the horses' heads. The carriage window had been closed and -the girl's face had disappeared. And the brougham, behind which -he was now running, was no more than a black spot on the white road. - -He called out again: "Christine!" - -No reply. And he stopped in the midst of the silence. - -With a lack-luster eye, he stared down that cold, desolate road -and into the pale, dead night. Nothing was colder than his heart, -nothing half so dead: he had loved an angel and now he despised -a woman! - -Raoul, how that little fairy of the North has trifled with you! -Was it really, was it really necessary to have so fresh and young -a face, a forehead so shy and always ready to cover itself with -the pink blush of modesty in order to pass in the lonely night, -in a carriage and pair, accompanied by a mysterious lover? -Surely there should be some limit to hypocrisy and lying!... - -She had passed without answering his cry....And he was thinking -of dying; and he was twenty years old!... - -His valet found him in the morning sitting on his bed. He had not -undressed and the servant feared, at the sight of his face, that some -disaster had occurred. Raoul snatched his letters from the man's hands. -He had recognized Christine's paper and hand-writing. She said: - -DEAR: - -Go to the masked ball at the Opera on the night after to-morrow. -At twelve o'clock, be in the little room behind the chimney-place -of the big crush-room. Stand near the door that leads to the Rotunda. -Don't mention this appointment to any one on earth. Wear a white -domino and be carefully masked. As you love me, do not let yourself -be recognized. CHRISTINE. - - - -Chapter IX At the Masked Ball - - -The envelope was covered with mud and unstamped. It bore the words -"To be handed to M. le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny," with the address -in pencil. It must have been flung out in the hope that a passer-by -would pick up the note and deliver it, which was what happened. -The note had been picked up on the pavement of the Place de l'Opera. - -Raoul read it over again with fevered eyes. No more was needed -to revive his hope. The somber picture which he had for a moment -imagined of a Christine forgetting her duty to herself made way -for his original conception of an unfortunate, innocent child, -the victim of imprudence and exaggerated sensibility. To what extent, -at this time, was she really a victim? Whose prisoner was she? -Into what whirlpool had she been dragged? He asked himself these -questions with a cruel anguish; but even this pain seemed endurable -beside the frenzy into which he was thrown at the thought of a lying -and deceitful Christine. What had happened? What influence had -she undergone? What monster had carried her off and by what means? -... - -By what means indeed but that of music? He knew Christine's story. -After her father's death, she acquired a distaste of everything in life, -including her art. She went through the CONSERVATOIRE like a poor -soulless singing-machine. And, suddenly, she awoke as though through the -intervention of a god. The Angel of Music appeared upon the scene! -She sang Margarita in FAUST and triumphed!... - -The Angel of Music!...For three months the Angel of Music had been -giving Christine lessons....Ah, he was a punctual singing-master!... -And now he was taking her for drives in the Bois!... - -Raoul's fingers clutched at his flesh, above his jealous heart. -In his inexperience, he now asked himself with terror what game -the girl was playing? Up to what point could an opera-singer make -a fool of a good-natured young man, quite new to love? O misery!... - -Thus did Raoul's thoughts fly from one extreme to the other. -He no longer knew whether to pity Christine or to curse her; -and he pitied and cursed her turn and turn about. At all events, -he bought a white domino. - -The hour of the appointment came at last. With his face in a mask -trimmed with long, thick lace, looking like a pierrot in his white wrap, -the viscount thought himself very ridiculous. Men of the world -do not go to the Opera ball in fancy-dress! It was absurd. -One thought, however, consoled the viscount: he would certainly -never be recognized! - -This ball was an exceptional affair, given some time before Shrovetide, -in honor of the anniversary of the birth of a famous draftsman; -and it was expected to be much gayer, noisier, more Bohemian than -the ordinary masked ball. Numbers of artists had arranged to go, -accompanied by a whole cohort of models and pupils, who, by midnight, -began to create a tremendous din. Raoul climbed the grand staircase -at five minutes to twelve, did not linger to look at the motley -dresses displayed all the way up the marble steps, one of the richest -settings in the world, allowed no facetious mask to draw him into -a war of wits, replied to no jests and shook off the bold familiarity -of a number of couples who had already become a trifle too gay. -Crossing the big crush-room and escaping from a mad whirl of dancers -in which he was caught for a moment, he at last entered the room -mentioned in Christine's letter. He found it crammed; for this -small space was the point where all those who were going to supper -in the Rotunda crossed those who were returning from taking a glass -of champagne. The fun, here, waxed fast and furious. - -Raoul leaned against a door-post and waited. He did not wait long. -A black domino passed and gave a quick squeeze to the tips of -his fingers. He understood that it was she and followed her: - -"Is that you, Christine?" he asked, between his teeth. - -The black domino turned round promptly and raised her finger -to her lips, no doubt to warn him not to mention her name again. -Raoul continued to follow her in silence. - -He was afraid of losing her, after meeting her again in such -strange circumstances. His grudge against her was gone. He no -longer doubted that she had "nothing to reproach herself with," -however peculiar and inexplicable her conduct might seem. He was -ready to make any display of clemency, forgiveness or cowardice. -He was in love. And, no doubt, he would soon receive a very natural -explanation of her curious absence. - -The black domino turned back from time to time to see if the white -domino was still following. - -As Raoul once more passed through the great crush-room, this time -in the wake of his guide, he could not help noticing a group crowding -round a person whose disguise, eccentric air and gruesome appearance -were causing a sensation. It was a man dressed all in scarlet, -with a huge hat and feathers on the top of a wonderful death's head. -From his shoulders hung an immense red-velvet cloak, which trailed -along the floor like a king's train; and on this cloak was embroidered, -in gold letters, which every one read and repeated aloud, -"Don't touch me! I am Red Death stalking abroad!" - -Then one, greatly daring, did try to touch him...but a skeleton -hand shot out of a crimson sleeve and violently seized the rash -one's wrist; and he, feeling the clutch of the knucklebones, -the furious grasp of Death, uttered a cry of pain and terror. -When Red Death released him at last, he ran away like a very madman, -pursued by the jeers of the bystanders. - -It was at this moment that Raoul passed in front of the funereal -masquerader, who had just happened to turn in his direction. -And he nearly exclaimed: - -"The death's head of Perros-Guirec!" - -He had recognized him!...He wanted to dart forward, forgetting Christine; -but the black domino, who also seemed a prey to some strange excitement, -caught him by the arm and dragged him from the crush-room, -far from the mad crowd through which Red Death was stalking. ... - -The black domino kept on turning back and, apparently, on two -occasions saw something that startled her, for she hurried -her pace and Raoul's as though they were being pursued. - -They went up two floors. Here, the stairs and corridors -were almost deserted. The black domino opened the door of a -private box and beckoned to the white domino to follow her. -Then Christine, whom he recognized by the sound of her voice, -closed the door behind them and warned him, in a whisper, -to remain at the back of the box and on no account to show himself. -Raoul took off his mask. Christine kept hers on. And, when Raoul -was about to ask her to remove it, he was surprised to see her put -her ear to the partition and listen eagerly for a sound outside. -Then she opened the door ajar, looked out into the corridor and, -in a low voice, said: - -"He must have gone up higher." Suddenly she exclaimed: "He is -coming down again!" - -She tried to close the door, but Raoul prevented her; for he had seen, -on the top step of the staircase that led to the floor above, -A RED FOOT, followed by another...and slowly, majestically, -the whole scarlet dress of Red Death met his eyes. And he once -more saw the death's head of Perros-Guirec. - -"It's he!" he exclaimed. "This time, he shall not escape me!..." - -But Christian{sic} had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul -was on the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside. - -"Whom do you mean by `he'?" she asked, in a changed voice. -"Who shall not escape you?" - -Raoul tried to overcome the girl's resistance by force, but she -repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her. -He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper. - -"Who?" he repeated angrily. "Why, he, the man who hides behind -that hideous mask of death!...The evil genius of the churchyard -at Perros!...Red Death!...In a word, madam, your friend... -your Angel of Music!...But I shall snatch off his mask, -as I shall snatch off my own; and, this time, we shall look each -other in the face, he and I, with no veil and no lies between us; -and I shall know whom you love and who loves you!" - -He burst into a mad laugh, while Christine gave a disconsolate moan -behind her velvet mask. With a tragic gesture, she flung out her -two arms, which fixed a barrier of white flesh against the door. - -"In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass!..." - -He stopped. What had she said?...In the name of their love?... -Never before had she confessed that she loved him. And yet she -had had opportunities enough....Pooh, her only object was to gain -a few seconds!...She wished to give the Red Death time to escape... -And, in accents of childish hatred, he said: - -"You lie, madam, for you do not love me and you have never loved me! -What a poor fellow I must be to let you mock and flout me as you -have done! Why did you give me every reason for hope, at Perros... -for honest hope, madam, for I am an honest man and I believed you -to be an honest woman, when your only intention was to deceive me! -Alas, you have deceived us all! You have taken a shameful advantage -of the candid affection of your benefactress herself, who continues -to believe in your sincerity while you go about the Opera ball -with Red Death!...I despise you!..." - -And he burst into tears. She allowed him to insult her. -She thought of but one thing, to keep him from leaving the box. - -"You will beg my pardon, one day, for all those ugly words, Raoul, -and when you do I shall forgive you!" - -He shook his head. "No, no, you have driven me mad! When I think -that I had only one object in life: to give my name to an opera wench!" - -"Raoul!...How can you?" - -"I shall die of shame!" - -"No, dear, live!" said Christine's grave and changed voice. -"And...good-by. Good-by, Raoul..." - -The boy stepped forward, staggering as he went. He risked one -more sarcasm: - -"Oh, you must let me come and applaud you from time to time!" - -"I shall never sing again, Raoul!..." - -"Really?" he replied, still more satirically. "So he is taking -you off the stage: I congratulate you!...But we shall meet -in the Bois, one of these evenings!" - -"Not in the Bois nor anywhere, Raoul: you shall not see me again -..." - -"May one ask at least to what darkness you are returning?...For -what hell are you leaving, mysterious lady...or for what paradise?" - -"I came to tell you, dear, but I can't tell you now...you would -not believe me! You have lost faith in me, Raoul; it is finished!" - -She spoke in such a despairing voice that the lad began to feel -remorse for his cruelty. - -"But look here!" he cried. "Can't you tell me what all this means! -... You are free, there is no one to interfere with you. ... -You go about Paris....You put on a domino to come to the ball. -... Why do you not go home?...What have you been doing this -past fortnight?...What is this tale about the Angel of Music, -which you have been telling Mamma Valerius? Some one may have taken -you in, played upon your innocence. I was a witness of it myself, -at Perros...but you know what to believe now! You seem to me -quite sensible, Christine. You know what you are doing....And -meanwhile Mamma Valerius lies waiting for you at home and appealing -to your `good genius!'...Explain yourself, Christine, I beg of you! -Any one might have been deceived as I was. What is this farce?" - -Christine simply took off her mask and said: "Dear, it is a tragedy!" - -Raoul now saw her face and could not restrain an exclamation of -surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. -A mortal pallor covered those features, which he had known so -charming and so gentle, and sorrow had furrowed them with pitiless -lines and traced dark and unspeakably sad shadows under her eyes. - -"My dearest! My dearest!" he moaned, holding out his arms. -"You promised to forgive me..." - -"Perhaps!...Some day, perhaps!" she said, resuming her mask; -and she went away, forbidding him, with a gesture, to follow her. - -He tried to disobey her; but she turned round and repeated her gesture -of farewell with such authority that he dared not move a step. - -He watched her till she was out of sight. Then he also went down among -the crowd, hardly knowing what he was doing, with throbbing temples -and an aching heart; and, as he crossed the dancing-floor, he asked -if anybody had seen Red Death. Yes, every one had seen Red Death; -but Raoul could not find him; and, at two o'clock in the morning, -he turned down the passage, behind the scenes, that led to -Christine Daae's dressing-room. - -His footsteps took him to that room where he had first known suffering. -He tapped at the door. There was no answer. He entered, as he -had entered when he looked everywhere for "the man's voice." -The room was empty. A gas-jet was burning, turned down low. -He saw some writing-paper on a little desk. He thought of writing -to Christine, but he heard steps in the passage. He had only time -to hide in the inner room, which was separated from the dressing-room -by a curtain. - -Christine entered, took off her mask with a weary movement and flung -it on the table. She sighed and let her pretty head fall into her -two hands. What was she thinking of? Of Raoul? No, for Raoul -heard her murmur: "Poor Erik!" - -At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was -persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. -It would have been quite natural if she had said, "Poor Raoul," -after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, -she repeated: "Poor Erik!" - -What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she -pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy? - -Christine began to write, deliberately, calmly and so placidly -that Raoul, who was still trembling from the effects of the tragedy -that separated them, was painfully impressed. - -"What coolness!" he said to himself. - -She wrote on, filling two, three, four sheets. Suddenly, she raised -her head and hid the sheets in her bodice....She seemed -to be listening... Raoul also listened... Whence came -that strange sound, that distant rhythm?...A faint singing -seemed to issue from the walls...yes, it was as though -the walls themselves were singing!...The song became plainer -...the words were now distinguishable...he heard a voice, -a very beautiful, very soft, very captivating voice...but, -for all its softness, it remained a male voice...The voice came -nearer and nearer...it came through the wall...it approached -...and now the voice was IN THE ROOM, in front of Christine. -Christine rose and addressed the voice, as though speaking to some one: - -"Here I am, Erik," she said. "I am ready. But you are late." - -Raoul, peeping from behind the curtain, could not believe his eyes, -which showed him nothing. Christine's face lit up. A smile -of happiness appeared upon her bloodless lips, a smile like that -of sick people when they receive the first hope of recovery. - -The voice without a body went on singing; and certainly Raoul had -never in his life heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet, -more gloriously insidious, more delicate, more powerful, in short, -more irresistibly triumphant. He listened to it in a fever and he -now began to understand how Christine Daae was able to appear -one evening, before the stupefied audience, with accents of a beauty -hitherto unknown, of a superhuman exaltation, while doubtless still -under the influence of the mysterious and invisible master. - -The voice was singing the Wedding-night Song from Romeo and Juliet. -Raoul saw Christine stretch out her arms to the voice as she -had done, in Perros churchyard, to the invisible violin playing The -Resurrection of Lazarus. And nothing could describe the passion -with which the voice sang: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -The strains went through Raoul's heart. Struggling against the charm -that seemed to deprive him of all his will and all his energy and -of almost all his lucidity at the moment when he needed them most, -he succeeded in drawing back the curtain that hid him and he walked to -where Christine stood. She herself was moving to the back of the room, -the whole wall of which was occupied by a great mirror that reflected her -image, but not his, for he was just behind her and entirely covered by her. - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Christine walked toward her image in the glass and the image came -toward her. The two Christines--the real one and the reflection-- -ended by touching; and Raoul put out his arms to clasp the two -in one embrace. But, by a sort of dazzling miracle that sent -him staggering, Raoul was suddenly flung back, while an icy blast swept -over his face; he saw, not two, but four, eight, twenty Christines -spinning round him, laughing at him and fleeing so swiftly that he -could not touch one of them. At last, everything stood still again; -and he saw himself in the glass. But Christine had disappeared. - -He rushed up to the glass. He struck at the walls. Nobody! -And meanwhile the room still echoed with a distant passionate singing: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -Which way, which way had Christine gone?...Which way would she -return?... - -Would she return? Alas, had she not declared to him that everything -was finished? And was the voice not repeating: - -"Fate links thee to me for ever and a day!" - -To me? To whom? - -Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair -which Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into -his hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his -young cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, -tears that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which -is common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud: - -"Who is this Erik?" he said. - - - -Chapter X Forget the Name of the Man's Voice - - -The day after Christine had vanished before his eyes in a sort -of dazzlement that still made him doubt the evidence of his senses, -M. le Vicomte de Chagny called to inquire at Mamma Valerius'. -He came upon a charming picture. Christine herself was seated -by the bedside of the old lady, who was sitting up against -the pillows, knitting. The pink and white had returned to the young -girl's cheeks. The dark rings round her eyes had disappeared. -Raoul no longer recognized the tragic face of the day before. -If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not -still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird -drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, -he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all. - -She rose, without showing any emotion, and offered him her hand. -But Raoul's stupefaction was so great that he stood there dumfounded, -without a gesture, without a word. - -"Well, M. de Chagny," exclaimed Mamma Valerius, "don't you know -our Christine? Her good genius has sent her back to us!" - -"Mamma!" the girl broke in promptly, while a deep blush mantled to -her eyes. "I thought, mamma, that there was to be no more question -of that!...You know there is no such thing as the Angel of Music!" - -"But, child, he gave you lessons for three months!" - -"Mamma, I have promised to explain everything to you one of these days; -and I hope to do so but you have promised me, until that day, -to be silent and to ask me no more questions whatever!" - -"Provided that you promised never to leave me again! But have you -promised that, Christine?" - -"Mamma, all this can not interest M. de Chagny." - -"On the contrary, mademoiselle," said the young man, in a voice -which he tried to make firm and brave, but which still trembled, -"anything that concerns you interests me to an extent which perhaps -you will one day understand. I do not deny that my surprise equals -my pleasure at finding you with your adopted mother and that, -after what happened between us yesterday, after what you said and -what I was able to guess, I hardly expected to see you here so soon. -I should be the first to delight at your return, if you were not -so bent on preserving a secrecy that may be fatal to you...and I -have been your friend too long not to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, -at a disastrous adventure which will remain dangerous so long as we -have not unraveled its threads and of which you will certainly end -by being the victim, Christine." - -At these words, Mamma Valerius tossed about in her bed. - -"What does this mean?" she cried. "Is Christine in danger?" - -"Yes, madame," said Raoul courageously, notwithstanding the signs -which Christine made to him. - -"My God!" exclaimed the good, simple old woman, gasping for breath. -"You must tell me everything, Christine! Why did you try to reassure me? -And what danger is it, M. de Chagny?" - -"An impostor is abusing her good faith." - -"Is the Angel of Music an impostor?" - -"She told you herself that there is no Angel of Music." - -"But then what is it, in Heaven's name? You will be the death -of me!" - -"There is a terrible mystery around us, madame, around you, -around Christine, a mystery much more to be feared than any number -of ghosts or genii!" - -Mamma Valerius turned a terrified face to Christine, who had already -run to her adopted mother and was holding her in her arms. - -"Don't believe him, mummy, don't believe him," she repeated. - -"Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow. - -Christine was silent and Raoul resumed. - -"That is what you must promise, Christine. It is the only thing -that can reassure your mother and me. We will undertake not to ask -you a single question about the past, if you promise us to remain -under our protection in future." - -"That is an undertaking which I have not asked of you and a promise -which I refuse to make you!" said the young girl haughtily. -"I am mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right -to control them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. -As to what I have done during the last fortnight, there is only one man -in the world who has the right to demand an account of me: my husband! -Well, I have no husband and I never mean to marry!" - -She threw out her hands to emphasize her words and Raoul turned pale, -not only because of the words which he had heard, but because he -had caught sight of a plain gold ring on Christine's finger. - -"You have no husband and yet you wear a wedding-ring." - -He tried to seize her hand, but she swiftly drew it back. - -"That's a present!" she said, blushing once more and vainly striving -to hide her embarrassment. - -"Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been -given by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? -Why torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise -has been accepted!" - -"That's what I said!" exclaimed the old lady. - -"And what did she answer, madame?" - -"What I chose," said Christine, driven to exasperation. -"Don't you think, monsieur, that this cross-examination has lasted -long enough? As far as I am concerned..." - -Raoul was afraid to let her finish her speech. He interrupted her: - -"I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know -the good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, -you no doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to -tell you what I have seen--and I have seen more than you suspect, -Christine--or what I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, -I have sometimes been inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes." - -"Well, what did you see, sir, or think you saw?" - -"I saw your ecstasy AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE, Christine: the voice -that came from the wall or the next room to yours...yes, -YOUR ECSTASY! And that is what makes me alarmed on your behalf. -You are under a very dangerous spell. And yet it seems that you -are aware of the imposture, because you say to-day THAT THERE -IS NO ANGEL OF MUSIC! In that case, Christine, why did you follow -him that time? Why did you stand up, with radiant features, -as though you were really hearing angels?...Ah, it is a very -dangerous voice, Christine, for I myself, when I heard it, was so much -fascinated by it that you vanished before my eyes without my seeing -which way you passed! Christine, Christine, in the name of Heaven, -in the name of your father who is in Heaven now and who loved you -so dearly and who loved me too, Christine, tell us, tell your -benefactress and me, to whom does that voice belong? If you do, -we will save you in spite of yourself. Come, Christine, the name -of the man! The name of the man who had the audacity to put a ring -on your finger!" - -"M. de Chagny," the girl declared coldly, "you shall never know!" - -Thereupon, seeing the hostility with which her ward had addressed -the viscount, Mamma Valerius suddenly took Christine's part. - -"And, if she does love that man, Monsieur le Vicomte, even then it -is no business of yours!" - -"Alas, madame," Raoul humbly replied, unable to restrain his tears, -"alas, I believe that Christine really does love him!...But -it is not only that which drives me to despair; for what I am not -certain of, madame, is that the man whom Christine loves is worthy -of her love!" - -"It is for me to be the judge of that, monsieur!" said Christine, -looking Raoul angrily in the face. - -"When a man," continued Raoul, "adopts such romantic methods -to entice a young girl's affections. .." - -"The man must be either a villain, or the girl a fool: is that it?" - -"Christine!" - -"Raoul, why do you condemn a man whom you have never seen, -whom no one knows and about whom you yourself know nothing?" - -"Yes, Christine....Yes....I at least know the name -that you thought to keep from me for ever....The name -of your Angel of Music, mademoiselle, is Erik!" - -Christine at once betrayed herself. She turned as white as a sheet -and stammered: "Who told you?" - -"You yourself!" - -"How do you mean?" - -"By pitying him the other night, the night of the masked ball. -When you went to your dressing-room, did you not say, `Poor Erik?' -Well, Christine, there was a poor Raoul who overheard you." - -"This is the second time that you have listened behind the door, -M. de Chagny!" - -"I was not behind the door...I was in the dressing-room, -in the inner room, mademoiselle." - -"Oh, unhappy man!" moaned the girl, showing every sign -of unspeakable terror. "Unhappy man! Do you want to be killed?" - -"Perhaps." - -Raoul uttered this "perhaps" with so much love and despair in his -voice that Christine could not keep back a sob. She took his hands -and looked at him with all the pure affection of which she was capable: - -"Raoul," she said, "forget THE MAN'S VOICE and do not even remember -its name. .. You must never try to fathom the mystery of THE -MAN'S VOICE." - -"Is the mystery so very terrible?" - -"There is no more awful mystery on this earth. Swear to me that you -will make no attempt to find out," she insisted. "Swear to me -that you will never come to my dressing-room, unless I send for you." - -"Then you promise to send for me sometimes, Christine?" - -"I promise." - -"When?" - -"To-morrow." - -"Then I swear to do as you ask." - -He kissed her hands and went away, cursing Erik and resolving -to be patient. - - - -Chapter XI Above the Trap-Doors - - -The next day, he saw her at the Opera. She was still wearing -the plain gold ring. She was gentle and kind to him. She talked -to him of the plans which he was forming, of his future, of his career. - -He told her that the date of the Polar expedition had been put forward -and that he would leave France in three weeks, or a month at latest. -She suggested, almost gaily, that he must look upon the voyage -with delight, as a stage toward his coming fame. And when he -replied that fame without love was no attraction in his eyes, -she treated him as a child whose sorrows were only short-lived. - -"How can you speak so lightly of such serious things?" he asked. -"Perhaps we shall never see each other again! I may die during -that expedition." - -"Or I," she said simply. - -She no longer smiled or jested. She seemed to be thinking -of some new thing that had entered her mind for the first time. -Her eyes were all aglow with it. - -"What are you thinking of, Christine?" - -"I am thinking that we shall not see each other again..." - -"And does that make you so radiant?" - -"And that, in a month, we shall have to say good-by for ever!" - -"Unless, Christine, we pledge our faith and wait for each other -for ever." - -She put her hand on his mouth. - -"Hush, Raoul!...You know there is no question of that... -And we shall never be married: that is understood!" - -She seemed suddenly almost unable to contain an overpowering gaiety. -She clapped her hands with childish glee. Raoul stared at her -in amazement. - -"But...but," she continued, holding out her two hands to Raoul, -or rather giving them to him, as though she had suddenly resolved -to make him a present of them, "but if we can not be married, we can -... we can be engaged! Nobody will know but ourselves, Raoul. -There have been plenty of secret marriages: why not a secret -engagement?...We are engaged, dear, for a month! In a month, -you will go away, and I can be happy at the thought of that month -all my life long!" - -She was enchanted with her inspiration. Then she became serious again. - -"This," she said, "IS A HAPPINESS THAT WILL HARM NO ONE." - -Raoul jumped at the idea. He bowed to Christine and said: - -"Mademoiselle, I have the honor to ask for your hand." - -"Why, you have both of them already, my dear betrothed!... -Oh, Raoul, how happy we shall be!...We must play at being -engaged all day long." - -It was the prettiest game in the world and they enjoyed it like -the children that they were. Oh, the wonderful speeches they made -to each other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at -hearts as other children might play at ball; only, as it was really -their two hearts that they flung to and fro, they had to be very, -very handy to catch them, each time, without hurting them. - -One day, about a week after the game began, Raoul's heart was badly -hurt and he stopped playing and uttered these wild words: - -"I shan't go to the North Pole!" - -Christine, who, in her innocence, had not dreamed of such a possibility, -suddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached herself bitterly. -She did not say a word in reply to Raoul's remark and went straight home. - -This happened in the afternoon, in the singer's dressing-room, -where they met every day and where they amused themselves by dining -on three biscuits, two glasses of port and a bunch of violets. -In the evening, she did not sing; and he did not receive his -usual letter, though they had arranged to write to each other daily -during that month. The next morning, he ran off to Mamma Valerius, -who told him that Christine had gone away for two days. She had -left at five o'clock the day before. - -Raoul was distracted. He hated Mamma Valerius for giving him such -news as that with such stupefying calmness. He tried to sound her, -but the old lady obviously knew nothing. - -Christine returned on the following day. She returned in triumph. -She renewed her extraordinary success of the gala performance. -Since the adventure of the "toad," Carlotta had not been able -to appear on the stage. The terror of a fresh "co-ack" filled her -heart and deprived her of all her power of singing; and the theater -that had witnessed her incomprehensible disgrace had become odious -to her. She contrived to cancel her contract. Daae was offered -the vacant place for the time. She received thunders of applause in -the Juive. - -The viscount, who, of course, was present, was the only one -to suffer on hearing the thousand echoes of this fresh triumph; -for Christine still wore her plain gold ring. A distant voice -whispered in the young man's ear: - -"She is wearing the ring again to-night; and you did not give it -to her. She gave her soul again tonight and did not give it to you. -... If she will not tell you what she has been doing the past two -days...you must go and ask Erik!" - -He ran behind the scenes and placed himself in her way. She saw -him for her eyes were looking for him. She said: - -"Quick! Quick!...Come!" - -And she dragged him to her dressing-room. - -Raoul at once threw himself on his knees before her. He swore -to her that he would go and he entreated her never again to withhold -a single hour of the ideal happiness which she had promised him. -She let her tears flow. They kissed like a despairing brother -and sister who have been smitten with a common loss and who meet -to mourn a dead parent. - -Suddenly, she snatched herself from the young man's soft and timid -embrace, seemed to listen to something, and, with a quick gesture, -pointed to the door. When he was on the threshold, she said, -in so low a voice that the viscount guessed rather than heard her words: - -"To-morrow, my dear betrothed! And be happy, Raoul: I sang -for you to-night!" - -He returned the next day. But those two days of absence had broken -the charm of their delightful make-believe. They looked at each other, -in the dressing-room, with their sad eyes, without exchanging a word. -Raoul had to restrain himself not to cry out: - -"I am jealous! I am jealous! I am jealous!" - -But she heard him all the same. Then she said: - -"Come for a walk, dear. The air will do you good." - -Raoul thought that she would propose a stroll in the country, -far from that building which he detested as a prison whose jailer -he could feel walking within the walls...the jailer Erik.... -But she took him to the stage and made him sit on the wooden -curb of a well, in the doubtful peace and coolness of a first scene -set for the evening's performance. - -On another day, she wandered with him, hand in, hand, along the deserted -paths of a garden whose creepers had been cut out by a decorator's -skilful hands. It was as though the real sky, the real flowers, -the real earth were forbidden her for all time and she condemned -to breathe no other air than that of the theater. An occasional -fireman passed, watching over their melancholy idyll from afar. -And she would drag him up above the clouds, in the magnificent -disorder of the grid, where she loved to make him giddy by running -in front of him along the frail bridges, among the thousands of ropes -fastened to the pulleys, the windlasses, the rollers, in the midst -of a regular forest of yards and masts. If he hesitated, she said, -with an adorable pout of her lips: - -"You, a sailor!" - -And then they returned to terra firma, that is to say, to some -passage that led them to the little girls' dancing-school, where -brats between six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope -of becoming great dancers one day, "covered with diamonds...." -Meanwhile, Christine gave them sweets instead. - -She took him to the wardrobe and property-rooms, took him all over -her empire, which was artificial, but immense, covering seventeen -stories from the ground-floor to the roof and inhabited by an -army of subjects. She moved among them like a popular queen, -encouraging them in their labors, sitting down in the workshops, -giving words of advice to the workmen whose hands hesitated to cut -into the rich stuffs that were to clothe heroes. There were -inhabitants of that country who practised every trade. There -were cobblers, there were goldsmiths. All had learned to know -her and to love her, for she always interested herself in all -their troubles and all their little hobbies. - -She knew unsuspected corners that were secretly occupied by little -old couples. She knocked at their door and introduced Raoul to them -as a Prince Charming who had asked for her hand; and the two of them, -sitting on some worm-eaten "property," would listen to the legends -of the Opera, even as, in their childhood, they had listened to the old -Breton tales. Those old people remembered nothing outside the Opera. -They had lived there for years without number. Past managements -had forgotten them; palace revolutions had taken no notice of them; -the history of France had run its course unknown to them; and nobody -recollected their existence. - -The precious days sped in this way; and Raoul and Christine, -by affecting excessive interest in outside matters, strove awkwardly -to hide from each other the one thought of their hearts. One fact -was certain, that Christine, who until then had shown herself -the stronger of the two, became suddenly inexpressibly nervous. -When on their expeditions, she would start running without reason -or else suddenly stop; and her hand, turning ice-cold in a moment, -would hold the young man back. Sometimes her eyes seemed to -pursue imaginary shadows. She cried, "This way," and "This way," -and "This way," laughing a breathless laugh that often ended -in tears. Then Raoul tried to speak, to question her, in spite -of his promises. But, even before he had worded his question, -she answered feverishly: - -"Nothing...I swear it is nothing." - -Once, when they were passing before an open trapdoor on the stage, -Raoul stopped over the dark cavity. - -"You have shown me over the upper part of your empire, Christine, -but there are strange stories told of the lower part. Shall we -go down?" - -She caught him in her arms, as though she feared to see him disappear -down the black hole, and, in a trembling voice, whispered: - -"Never!...I will not have you go there!...Besides, it's not -mine...EVERYTHING THAT IS UNDERGROUND BELONGS TO HIM!" - -Raoul looked her in the eyes and said roughly: - -"So he lives down there, does he?" - -"I never said so....Who told you a thing like that? Come away! -I sometimes wonder if you are quite sane, Raoul....You always -take things in such an impossible way....Come along! Come!" - -And she literally dragged him away, for he was obstinate and wanted -to remain by the trap-door; that hole attracted him. - -Suddenly, the trap-door was closed and so quickly that they did -not even see the hand that worked it; and they remained quite dazed. - -"Perhaps HE was there," Raoul said, at last. - -She shrugged her shoulders, but did not seem easy. - -"No, no, it was the `trap-door-shutters.' They must do something, -you know....They open and shut the trap-doors without -any particular reason....It's like the `door-shutters:' -they must spend their time somehow." - -"But suppose it were HE, Christine?" - -"No, no! He has shut himself up, he is working." - -"Oh, really! He's working, is he?" - -"Yes, he can't open and shut the trap-doors and work at the same time." -She shivered. - -"What is he working at?" - -"Oh, something terrible!...But it's all the better for us. -...When he's working at that, he sees nothing; he does not eat, -drink, or breathe for days and nights at a time...he becomes a -living dead man and has no time to amuse himself with the trap-doors." -She shivered again. She was still holding him in her arms. -Then she sighed and said, in her turn: - -"Suppose it were HE!" - -"Are you afraid of him?" - -"No, no, of course not," she said. - -For all that, on the next day and the following days, Christine was -careful to avoid the trap-doors. Her agitation only increased as -the hours passed. At last, one afternoon, she arrived very late, -with her face so desperately pale and her eyes so desperately red, -that Raoul resolved to go to all lengths, including that which he -foreshadowed when he blurted out that he would not go on the North Pole -expedition unless she first told him the secret of the man's voice. - -"Hush! Hush, in Heaven's name! Suppose HE heard you, -you unfortunate Raoul!" - -And Christine's eyes stared wildly at everything around her. - -"I will remove you from his power, Christine, I swear it. -And you shall not think of him any more." - -"Is it possible?" - -She allowed herself this doubt, which was an encouragernent, -while dragging the young man up to the topmost floor of the theater, -far, very far from the trap-doors. - -"I shall hide you in some unknown corner of the world, where HE -can not come to look for you. You will be safe; and then I shall -go away...as you have sworn never to marry." - -Christine seized Raoul's hands and squeezed them with incredible rapture. -But, suddenly becoming alarmed again, she turned away her head. - -"Higher!" was all she said. "Higher still!" - -And she dragged him up toward the summit. - -He had a difficulty in following her. They were soon under -the very roof, in the maze of timber-work. They slipped -through the buttresses, the rafters, the joists; they ran -from beam to beam as they might have run from tree to tree in a forest. - -And, despite the care which she took to look behind her at every moment, -she failed to see a shadow which followed her like her own shadow, -which stopped when she stopped, which started again when she did -and which made no more noise than a well-conducted shadow should. -As for Raoul, he saw nothing either; for, when he had Christine in -front of him, nothing interested him that happened behind. - - - -Chapter XII Apollo's Lyre - - -On this way, they reached the roof. Christine tripped over it -as lightly as a swallow. Their eyes swept the empty space between -the three domes and the triangular pediment. She breathed freely -over Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below. -She called Raoul to come quite close to her and they walked side -by side along the zinc streets, in the leaden avenues; they looked -at their twin shapes in the huge tanks, full of stagnant water, where, -in the hot weather, the little boys of the ballet, a score or so, -learn to swim and dive. - -The shadow had followed behind them clinging to their steps; -and the two children little suspected its presence when they at -last sat down, trustingly, under the mighty protection of Apollo, -who, with a great bronze gesture, lifted his huge lyre to the heart -of a crimson sky. - -It was a gorgeous spring evening. Clouds, which had just received -their gossamer robe of gold and purple from the setting sun, -drifted slowly by; and Christine said to Raoul: - -"Soon we shall go farther and faster than the clouds, to the end of -the world, and then you will leave me, Raoul. But, if, when the moment -comes for you to take me away, I refuse to go with you--well you must -carry me off by force!" - -"Are you afraid that you will change your mind, Christine?" - -"I don't know," she said, shaking her head in an odd fashion. -"He is a demon!" And she shivered and nestled in his arms with a moan. -"I am afraid now of going back to live with him...in the ground!" - -"What compels you to go back, Christine?" - -"If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen!... -But I can't do it, I can't do it!...I know one ought to be sorry -for people who live underground....But he is too horrible! -And yet the time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I -do not go, he will come and fetch me with his voice. And he will -drag me with him, underground, and go on his knees before me, -with his death's head. And he will tell me that he loves me! -And he will cry! Oh, those tears, Raoul, those tears in the two -black eye-sockets of the death's head! I can not see those tears -flow again!" - -She wrung her hands in anguish, while Raoul pressed her to his heart. - -"No, no, you shall never again hear him tell you that he loves you! -You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly -at once!" - -And he tried to drag her away, then and there. But she stopped him. - -"No, no," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Not now!...It would -be too cruel...let him hear me sing to-morrow evening...and then -we will go away. You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room -at midnight exactly. He will then be waiting for me in the dining-room -by the lake...we shall be free and you shall take me away.... -You must promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse; for I feel that, -if I go back this time, I shall perhaps never return." - -And she gave a sigh to which it seemed to her that another sigh, -behind her, replied. - -"Didn't you hear?" - -Her teeth chattered. - -"No," said Raoul, "I heard nothing." - -"It is too terrible," she confessed, "to be always trembling -like this!...And yet we run no danger here; we are at home, -in the sky, in the open air, in the light. The sun is flaming; -and night-birds can not bear to look at the sun. I have never seen -him by daylight...it must be awful!...Oh, the first time I -saw him!...I thought that he was going to die." - -"Why?" asked Raoul, really frightened at the aspect which this -strange confidence was taking. - -"BECAUSE I HAD SEEN HIM!" - -This time, Raoul and Christine turned round at the same time: - -"There is some one in pain," said Raoul. "Perhaps some one has -been hurt. Did you hear?" - -"I can't say," Christine confessed. "Even when he is not there, -my ears are full of his sighs. Still, if you heard..." - -They stood up and looked around them. They were quite alone -on the immense lead roof. They sat down again and Raoul said: - -"Tell me how you saw him first." - -"I had heard him for three months without seeing him. The first time I -heard it, I thought, as you did, that that adorable voice was singing -in another room. I went out and looked everywhere; but, as you know, -Raoul, my dressing-room is very much by itself; and I could not find -the voice outside my room, whereas it went on steadily inside. -And it not only sang, but it spoke to me and answered my questions, -like a real man's voice, with this difference, that it was as beautiful -as the voice of an angel. I had never got the Angel of Music whom -my poor father had promised to send me as soon as he was dead. -I really think that Mamma Valerius was a little bit to blame. -I told her about it; and she at once said, `It must be the Angel; -at any rate, you can do no harm by asking him.' I did so; -and the man's voice replied that, yes, it was the Angel's voice, -the voice which I was expecting and which my father had promised me. -From that time onward, the voice and I became great friends. -It asked leave to give me lessons every day. I agreed and never failed -to keep the appointment which it gave me in my dressing-room. You -have no idea, though you have heard the voice, of what those lessons -were like." - -"No, I have no idea," said Raoul. "What was your accompaniment?" - -"We were accompanied by a music which I do not know: it was behind -the wall and wonderfully accurate. The voice seemed to understand -mine exactly, to know precisely where my father had left off -teaching me. In a few weeks' time, I hardly knew myself when I sang. -I was even frightened. I seemed to dread a sort of witchcraft -behind it; but Mamma Valerius reassured me. She said that she -knew I was much too simple a girl to give the devil a hold on me. -... My progress, by the voice's own order, was kept a secret -between the voice, Mamma Valerius and myself. It was a curious -thing, but, outside the dressing-room, I sang with my ordinary, -every-day voice and nobody noticed anything. I did all that the -voice asked. It said, `Wait and see: we shall astonish Paris!' -And I waited and lived on in a sort of ecstatic dream. It was then -that I saw you for the first time one evening, in the house. -I was so glad that I never thought of concealing my delight when I -reached my dressing-room. Unfortunately, the voice was there before -me and soon noticed, by my air, that something had happened. -It asked what was the matter and I saw no reason for keeping our -story secret or concealing the place which you filled in my heart. -Then the voice was silent. I called to it, but it did not reply; -I begged and entreated, but in vain. I was terrified lest it had -gone for good. I wish to Heaven it had, dear!...That night, -I went home in a desperate condition. I told Mamma Valerius, who said, -`Why, of course, the voice is jealous!' And that, dear, first revealed -to me that I loved you." - -Christine stopped and laid her head on Raoul's shoulder. They sat -like that for a moment, in silence, and they did not see, did not -perceive the movement, at a few steps from them, of the creeping -shadow of two great black wings, a shadow that came along the roof -so near, so near them that it could have stifled them by closing -over them. - -"The next day," Christine continued, with a sigh, "I went back -to my dressing-room in a very pensive frame of mind. The voice -was there, spoke to me with great sadness and told me plainly that, -if I must bestow my heart on earth, there was nothing for the voice -to do but to go back to Heaven. And it said this with such an accent -of HUMAN sorrow that I ought then and there to have suspected -and begun to believe that I was the victim of my deluded senses. -But my faith in the voice, with which the memory of my father -was so closely intermingled, remained undisturbed. I feared -nothing so much as that I might never hear it again; I had thought -about my love for you and realized all the useless danger of it; -and I did not even know if you remembered me. Whatever happened, -your position in society forbade me to contemplate the possibility -of ever marrying you; and I swore to the voice that you were no -more than a brother to me nor ever would be and that my heart was -incapable of any earthly love. And that, dear, was why I refused to -recognize or see you when I met you on the stage or in the passages. -Meanwhile, the hours during which the voice taught me were spent in -a divine frenzy, until, at last, the voice said to me, `You can now, -Christine Daae, give to men a little of the music of Heaven.' -I don't know how it was that Carlotta did not come to the theater -that night nor why I was called upon to sing in her stead; but I -sang with a rapture I had never known before and I felt for a moment -as if my soul were leaving my body!" - -"Oh, Christine," said Raoul, "my heart quivered that night at every -accent of your voice. I saw the tears stream down your cheeks and I -wept with you. How could you sing, sing like that while crying?" - -"I felt myself fainting," said Christine, "I closed my eyes. -When I opened them, you were by my side. But the voice was -there also, Raoul! I was afraid for your sake and again I would -not recognize you and began to laugh when you reminded me that -you had picked up my scarf in the sea!...Alas, there is no -deceiving the voice!...The voice recognized you and the voice -was jealous!...It said that, if I did not love you, I would not -avoid you, but treat you like any other old friend. It made me -scene upon scene. At last, I said to the voice, `That will do! -I am going to Perros to-morrow, to pray on my father's grave, and I -shall ask M. Raoul de Chagny to go with me.' `Do as you please,' -replied the voice, `but I shall be at Perros too, for I am wherever -you are, Christine; and, if you are still worthy of me, if you -have not lied to me, I will play you The Resurrection of Lazarus, -on the stroke of midnight, on your father's tomb and on your -father's violin.' That, dear, was how I came to write you the -letter that brought you to Perros. How could I have been -so beguiled? How was it, when I saw the personal, the selfish -point of view of the voice, that I did not suspect some impostor? -Alas, I was no longer mistress of myself: I had become his thing!" - -"But, after all," cried Raoul, "you soon came to know the truth! -Why did you not at once rid yourself of that abominable nightmare?" - -"Know the truth, Raoul? Rid myself of that nightmare? But, my poor boy, -I was not caught in the nightmare until the day when I learned -the truth!...Pity me, Raoul, pity me!...You remember -the terrible evening when Carlotta thought that she had been -turned into a toad on the stage and when the house was suddenly -plunged in darkness through the chandelier crashing to the floor? -There were killed and wounded that night and the whole theater rang -with terrified screams. My first thought was for you and the voice. -I was at once easy, where you were concerned, for I had seen you -in your brother's box and I knew that you were not in danger. -But the voice had told me that it would be at the performance and I -was really afraid for it, just as if it had been an ordinary person -who was capable of dying. I thought to myself, `The chandelier -may have come down upon the voice.' I was then on the stage -and was nearly running into the house, to look for the voice among -the killed and wounded, when I thought that, if the voice was safe, -it would be sure to be in my dressing-room and I rushed to my room. -The voice was not there. I locked my door and, with tears in my eyes, -besought it, if it were still alive, to manifest itself to me. -The voice did not reply, but suddenly I heard a long, beautiful wail -which I knew well. It is the plaint of Lazarus when, at the sound -of the Redeemer's voice, he begins to open his eyes and see the light -of day. It was the music which you and I, Raoul, heard at Perros. -And then the voice began to sing the leading phrase, "Come! And believe -in me! Whoso believes in me shall live! Walk! Whoso hath believed -in me shall never die!...' I can not tell you the effect which that -music had upon me. It seemed to command me, personally, to come, -to stand up and come to it. It retreated and I followed. `Come! And -believe in me!' I believed in it, I came....I came and-- -this was the extraordinary thing--my dressing-room, as I moved, -seemed to lengthen out...to lengthen out....Evidently, -it must have been an effect of mirrors...for I had the mirror -in front of me....And, suddenly, I was outside the room without -knowing how!" - -"What! Without knowing how? Christine, Christine, you must really -stop dreaming!" - -"I was not dreaming, dear, I was outside my room without -knowing how. You, who saw me disappear from my room one evening, -may be able to explain it; but I can not. I can only tell you that, -suddenly, there was no mirror before me and no dressing-room. -I was in a dark passage, I was frightened and I cried out. -It was quite dark, but for a faint red glimmer at a distant corner -of the wall. I tried out. My voice was the only sound, -for the singing and the violin had stopped. And, suddenly, -a hand was laid on mine...or rather a stone-cold, bony thing -that seized my wrist and did not let go. I cried out again. -An arm took me round the waist and supported me. I struggled -for a little while and then gave up the attempt. I was dragged -toward the little red light and then I saw that I was in the hands -of a man wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a mask that hid -his whole face. I made one last effort; my limbs stiffened, -my mouth opened to scream, but a hand closed it, a hand which I -felt on my lips, on my skin...a hand that smelt of death. -Then I fainted away. - -"When I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded by darkness. -A lantern, standing on the ground, showed a bubbling well. -The water splashing from the well disappeared, almost at once, -under the floor on which I was lying, with my head on the knee -of the man in the black cloak and the black mask. He was bathing -my temples and his hands smelt of death. I tried to push them -away and asked, `Who are you? Where is the voice?' His only -answer was a sigh. Suddenly, a hot breath passed over my face -and I perceived a white shape, beside the man's black shape, -in the darkness. The black shape lifted me on to the white shape, -a glad neighing greeted my astounded ears and I murmured, -`Cesar!' The animal quivered. Raoul, I was lying half back on -a saddle and I had recognized the white horse out of the PROFETA, -which I had so often fed with sugar and sweets. I remembered that, -one evening, there was a rumor in the theater that the horse -had disappeared and that it had been stolen by the Opera ghost. -I believed in the voice, but had never believed in the ghost. -Now, however, I began to wonder, with a shiver, whether I was -the ghost's prisoner. I called upon the voice to help me, for I -should never have imagined that the voice and the ghost were one. -You have heard about the Opera ghost, have you not, Raoul?" - -"Yes, but tell me what happened when you were on the white horse -of the Profeta?" - -"I made no movement and let myself go. The black shape held me up, -and I made no effort to escape. A curious feeling of peacefulness -came over me and I thought that I must be under the influence of -some cordial. I had the full command of my senses; and my eyes became -used to the darkness, which was lit, here and there, by fitful gleams. -I calculated that we were in a narrow circular gallery, probably running -all round the Opera, which is immense, underground. I had once -been down into those cellars, but had stopped at the third floor, -though there were two lower still, large enough to hold a town. -But the figures of which I caught sight had made me run away. -There are demons down there, quite black, standing in front of boilers, -and they wield shovels and pitchforks and poke up fires and stir up -flames and, if you come too near them, they frighten you by suddenly -opening the red mouths of their furnaces....Well, while Cesar was quietly -carrying me on his back, I saw those black demons in the distance, -looking quite small, in front of the red fires of their furnaces: -they came into sight, disappeared and came into sight again, as we -went on our winding way. At last, they disappeared altogether. -The shape was still holding me up and Cesar walked on, unled and -sure-footed. I could not tell you, even approximately, how long -this ride lasted; I only know that we seemed to turn and turn and -often went down a spiral stair into the very heart of the earth. -Even then, it may be that my head was turning, but I don't think so: -no, my mind was quite clear. At last, Cesar raised his nostrils, -sniffed the air and quickened his pace a little. I felt a moistness -in the air and Cesar stopped. The darkness had lifted. A sort -of bluey light surrounded us. We were on the edge of a lake, -whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the darkness; -but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat fastened -to an iron ring on the wharf!" - -"A boat!" - -"Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing -supernatural about that underground lake and boat. But think of the -exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't -know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's -shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again. -My gruesome escort must have noticed it, for he sent Cesar back -and I heard his hoofs trampling up a staircase while the man jumped -into the boat, untied the rope that held it and seized the oars. -He rowed with a quick, powerful stroke; and his eyes, under the mask, -never left me. We slipped across the noiseless water in the bluey -light which I told you of; then we were in the dark again and we -touched shore. And I was once more taken up in the man's arms. -I cried aloud. And then, suddenly, I was silent, dazed by the light. -...Yes, a dazzling light in the midst of which I had been put down. -I sprang to my feet. I was in the middle of a drawing-room that -seemed to me to be decorated, adorned and furnished with nothing -but flowers, flowers both magnificent and stupid, because of -the silk ribbons that tied them to baskets, like those which they -sell in the shops on the boulevards. They were much too civilized -flowers, like those which I used to find in my dressing-room -after a first night. And, in the midst of all these flowers, -stood the black shape of the man in the mask, with arms crossed, -and he said, `Don't be afraid, Christine; you are in no danger.' -IT WAS THE VOICE! - -"My anger equaled my amazement. I rushed at the mask and tried -to snatch it away, so as to see the face of the voice. The man said, -`You are in no danger, so long as you do not touch the mask.' -And, taking me gently by the wrists, he forced me into a chair -and then went down on his knees before me and said nothing more! -His humility gave me back some of my courage; and the light restored -me to the realties of life. However extraordinary the adventure might be, -I was now surrounded by mortal, visible, tangible things. -The furniture, the hangings, the candles, the vases and the very -flowers in their baskets, of which I could almost have told whence -they came and what they cost, were bound to confine my imagination -to the limits of a drawing-room quite as commonplace as any that, -at least, had the excuse of not being in the cellars of the Opera. -I had, no doubt, to do with a terrible, eccentric person, who, in some -mysterious fashion, had succeeded in taking up his abode there, -under the Opera house, five stories below the level of the ground. -And the voice, the voice which I had recognized under the mask, -was on its knees before me, WAS A MAN! And I began to cry. ... -The man, still kneeling, must have understood the cause of my tears, -for he said, `It is true, Christine!...I am not an Angel, -nor a genius, nor a ghost...I am Erik!'" - -Christine's narrative was again interrupted. An echo behind them -seemed to repeat the word after her. - -"Erik!" - -What echo?...They both turned round and saw that night had fallen. -Raoul made a movement as though to rise, but Christine kept him -beside her. - -"Don't go," she said. "I want you to know everything HERE!" - -"But why here, Christine? I am afraid of your catching cold." - -"We have nothing to fear except the trap-doors, dear, and here we -are miles away from the trap-doors...and I am not allowed to -see you outside the theater. This is not the time to annoy him. -We must not arouse his suspicion." - -"Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong -to wait till to-morrow evening and that we ought to fly at once." - -"I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will -cause him infinite pain." - -"It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him -for good." - -"You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight." -And she added in a dull voice, "But then it counts both ways... -for we risk his killing us." - -"Does he love you so much?" - -"He would commit murder for me." - -"But one can find out where he lives. One can go in search of him. -Now that we know that Erik is not a ghost, one can speak to him -and force him to answer!" - -Christine shook her head. - -"No, no! There is nothing to be done with Erik except to run away!" - -"Then why, when you were able to run away, did you go back to him?" - -"Because I had to. And you will understand that when I tell you -how I left him." - -"Oh, I hate him!" cried Raoul. "And you, Christine, tell me, -do you hate him too?" - -"No," said Christine simply. - -"No, of course not....Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, -all of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind -which people do not admit even to themselves," said Raoul bitterly. -"The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it. -... Picture it: a man who lives in a palace underground!" -And he gave a leer. - -"Then you want me to go back there?" said the young girl cruelly. -"Take care, Raoul; I have told you: I should never return!" - -There was an appalling silence between the three of them: -the two who spoke and the shadow that listened, behind them. - -"Before answering that," said Raoul, at last, speaking very slowly, -"I should like to know with what feeling he inspires you, since you -do not hate him." - -"With horror!" she said. "That is the terrible thing about it. -He fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I -hate him, Raoul? Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on -the lake, underground. He accuses himself, he curses himself, -he implores my forgiveness!...He confesses his cheat. -He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. -... He has carried me off for love!...He has imprisoned me -with him, underground, for love!...But he respects me: he crawls, -he moans, he weeps!...And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told -him that I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, -give me my liberty...he offered it...he offered to show me -the mysterious road...Only...only he rose too...and I -was made to remember that, though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, -nor a genius, he remained the voice...for he sang. And I listened -... and stayed!...That night, we did not exchange another word. -He sang me to sleep. - -"When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished -little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp -standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. -I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from my -room led to a very comfortable bath-room. On returning to the bedroom, -I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, -`My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. -You have no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. -You are alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going -out shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.' -I felt sure that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. -I ran round my little apartment, looking for a way of escape which I -could not find. I upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, -which had caused me to fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh -and to cry at the same time. - -"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving -three taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I -had not noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full -of boxes and parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely -fashion, while I overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon -him to take off his mask, if it covered the face of an honest man. -He replied serenely, `You shall never see Erik's face.' And he -reproached me with not having finished dressing at that time of day: -he was good enough to tell me that it was two o'clock in the afternoon. -He said he would give me half an hour and, while he spoke, wound up -my watch and set it for me. After which, he asked me to come to -the dining-room, where a nice lunch was waiting for us. - -"I was very angry, slammed the door in his face and went to the -bath-room....When I came out again, feeling greatly refreshed, -Erik said that he loved me, but that he would never tell me -so except when I allowed him and that the rest of the time would -be devoted to music. `What do you mean by the rest of the time?' -I asked. `Five days,' he said, with decision. I asked him if I -should then be free and he said, `You will be free, Christine, for, -when those five days are past, you will have learned not to see me; -and then, from time to time, you will come to see your poor Erik!' -He pointed to a chair opposite him, at a small table, and I sat down, -feeling greatly perturbed. However, I ate a few prawns and the wing -of a chicken and drank half a glass of tokay, which he had himself, -he told me, brought from the Konigsberg cellars. Erik did not eat -or drink. I asked him what his nationality was and if that name -of Erik did not point to his Scandinavian origin. He said that he -had no name and no country and that he had taken the name of Erik -by accident. - -"After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, -saying he would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away -my hand and gave a cry. What I had touched was cold and, at the -same time, bony; and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. -`Oh, forgive me!' he moaned. And he opened a door before me. -`This is my bedroom, if you care to see it. It is rather curious.' -His manners, his words, his attitude gave me confidence and I went -in without hesitation. I felt as if I were entering the room of a -dead person. The walls were all hung with black, but, instead of -the white trimmings that usually set off that funereal upholstery, -there was an enormous stave of music with the notes of the DIES IRAE, -many times repeated. In the middle of the room was a canopy, -from which hung curtains of red brocaded stuff, and, under the canopy, -an open coffin. `That is where I sleep,' said Erik. `One has to get -used to everything in life, even to eternity.' The sight upset me -so much that I turned away my head. - -"Then I saw the keyboard of an organ which filled one whole side -of the walls. On the desk was a music-book covered with red notes. -I asked leave to look at it and read, `Don Juan Triumphant.' -`Yes,' he said, `I compose sometimes.' I began that work twenty years ago. -When I have finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin -and never wake up again.' `You must work at it as seldom as you can,' -I said. He replied, `I sometimes work at it for fourteen days -and nights together, during which I live on music only, -and then I rest for years at a time.' `Will you play me something -out of your Don Juan Triumphant?' I asked, thinking to please him. -`You must never ask me that,' he said, in a gloomy voice. -`I will play you Mozart, if you like, which will only make you weep; -but my Don Juan, Christine, burns; and yet he is not struck by fire -from Heaven.' Thereupon we returned to the drawing-room. I noticed -that there was no mirror in the whole apartment. I was going -to remark upon this, but Erik had already sat down to the piano. -He said, `You see, Christine, there is some music that is so terrible -that it consumes all those who approach it. Fortunately, you have -not come to that music yet, for you would lose all your pretty -coloring and nobody would know you when you returned to Paris. -Let us sing something from the Opera, Christine Daae.' -He spoke these last words as though he were flinging an insult -at me." - -"What did you do?" - -"I had no time to think about the meaning he put into his words. -We at once began the duet in Othello and already the catastrophe -was upon us. I sang Desdemona with a despair, a terror which I -had never displayed before. As for him, his voice thundered -forth his revengeful soul at every note. Love, jealousy, hatred, -burst out around us in harrowing cries. Erik's black mask made -me think of the natural mask of the Moor of Venice. He was -Othello himself. Suddenly, I felt a need to see beneath the mask. -I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a movement -which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore -away the mask. Oh, horror, horror, horror!" - -Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, -while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, -now thrice moaned the cry: - -"Horror!...Horror!...Horror!" - -Raoul and Christine, clasping each other closely, raised their eyes -to the stars that shone in a clear and peaceful sky. Raoul said: - -"Strange, Christine, that this calm, soft night should be so full -of plaintive sounds. One would think that it was sorrowing with us." - -"When you know the secret, Raoul, your ears, like mine, will be -full of lamentations." - -She took Raoul's protecting hands in hers and, with a long shiver, continued: - -"Yes, if I lived to be a hundred, I should always hear the superhuman -cry of grief and rage which he uttered when the terrible sight appeared -before my eyes....Raoul, you have seen death's heads, when they -have been dried and withered by the centuries, and, perhaps, if you -were not the victim of a nightmare, you saw HIS death's head at Perros. -And then you saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. -But all those death's heads were motionless and their dumb horror -was not alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death's mask suddenly -coming to life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, -its nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; -AND NOT A RAY OF LIGHT FROM THE SOCKETS, for, as I learned later, -you can not see his blazing eyes except in the dark. - -"I fell back against the wall and he came up to me, grinding his -teeth, and, as I fell upon my knees, he hissed mad, incoherent words -and curses at me. Leaning over me, he cried, `Look! You want -to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! -Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were -not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like! -Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? -I'm a very good-looking fellow, eh?...When a woman has seen me, -as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind -of Don Juan, you know!' And, drawing himself up to his full height, -with his hand on his hip, wagging the hideous thing that was -his head on his shoulders, he roared, `Look at me! I AM DON -JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned away my head and begged for mercy, -he drew it to him, brutally, twisting his dead fingers into my hair." - -"Enough! Enough!" cried Raoul. "I will kill him. In Heaven's -name, Christine, tell me where the dining-room on the lake is! -I must kill him!" - -"Oh, be quiet, Raoul, if you want to know!" - -"Yes, I want to know how and why you went back; I must know!... -But, in any case, I will kill him!" - -"Oh, Raoul, listen, listen!...He dragged me by my hair and then -...and then...Oh, it is too horrible!" - -"Well, what? Out with it!" exclaimed Raoul fiercely. -"Out with it, quick!" - -"Then he hissed at me. `Ah, I frighten you, do I?...I dare -say!...Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that -this...this...my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, -`tear it off as you did the other! Come! Come along! I insist! -Your hands! Your hands! Give me your hands!' And he seized my -hands and dug them into his awful face. He tore his flesh with -my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails!...`Know,' -he shouted, while his throat throbbed and panted like a furnace, -`know that I am built up of death from head to foot and that it -is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will never, -never leave you!...Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, -crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore -can never leave me again!...As long as you thought me handsome, -you could have come back, I know you would have come back...but, -now that you know my hideousness, you would run away for good. -...So I shall keep you here!...Why did you want to see me? -Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me!...When my own father -never saw me and when my mother, so as not to see me, made me -a present of my first mask!' - -"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the floor, -uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, -went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my reflections. -Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I began -to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about Opera music. -What I now heard was utterly different from what I had heard up to then. -His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but that he had rushed -to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the moment) seemed to me -at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, little by little, -it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. -It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that separated us. -Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY DIRECTION. -`Erik,' I cried, `show me your face without fear! I swear that you -are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I shiver -when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the splendor -of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, and I -also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love... -with words of love in his dead mouth...and the music had ceased... -He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my eyes. - -"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy. -It went on for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him. -My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them; -but they were the price of my liberty. I burned his mask; -and I managed so well that, even when he was not singing, -he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its master. -He was my faithful slave and paid me endless little attentions. -Gradually, I gave him such confidence that he ventured to take me -walking on the banks of the lake and to row me in the boat on its -leaden waters; toward the end of my captivity he let me out through -the gates that closed the underground passages in the Rue Scribe. -Here a carriage awaited us and took us to the Bois. The night when we -met you was nearly fatal to me, for he is terribly jealous of you -and I had to tell him that you were soon going away....Then, -at last, after a fortnight of that horrible captivity, during which I -was filled with pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, -he believed me when I said, `I WILL COME BACK!'" - -"And you went back, Christine," groaned Raoul. - -"Yes, dear, and I must tell you that it was not his frightful -threats when setting me free that helped me to keep my word, -but the harrowing sob which he gave on the threshold of the tomb. -... That sob attached me to the unfortunate man more than I myself -suspected when saying good-by to him. Poor Erik! Poor Erik!" - -"Christine," said Raoul, rising, "you tell me that you love me; -but you had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you -returned to Erik! Remember the masked ball!" - -"Yes; and do you remember those hours which I passed with you, -Raoul...to the great danger of both of us?" - -"I doubted your love for me, during those hours." - -"Do you doubt it still, Raoul?...Then know that each of my -visits to Erik increased my horror of him; for each of those visits, -instead of calming him, as I hoped, made him mad with love! -And I am so frightened, so frightened!..." - -"You are frightened...but do you love me? If Erik were -good-looking, would you love me, Christine?" - -She rose in her turn, put her two trembling arms round the young -man's neck and said: - -"Oh, my betrothed of a day, if I did not love you, I would not give -you my lips! Take them, for the first time and the last." - -He kissed her lips; but the night that surrounded them was rent -asunder, they fled as at the approach of a storm and their eyes, -filled with dread of Erik, showed them, before they disappeared, -high up above them, an immense night-bird that stared at them with -its blazing eyes and seemed to cling to the string of Apollo's lyre. - - - -Chapter XIII A Master-Stroke of the Trap-Door Lover - - -Raoul and Christine ran, eager to escape from the roof -and the blazing eyes that showed only in the dark; and they -did not stop before they came to the eighth floor on the way down. - -There was no performance at the Opera that night and the passages -were empty. Suddenly, a queer-looking form stood before them -and blocked the road: - -"No, not this way!" - -And the form pointed to another passage by which they were to reach -the wings. Raoul wanted to stop and ask for an explanation. -But the form, which wore a sort of long frock-coat and a pointed -cap, said: - -"Quick! Go away quickly!" - -Christine was already dragging Raoul, compelling him to start -running again. - -"But who is he? Who is that man?" he asked. - -Christine replied: "It's the Persian." - -"What's he doing here?" - -"Nobody knows. He is always in the Opera." - -"You are making me run away, for the first time in my life. -If we really saw Erik, what I ought to have done was to nail him -to Apollo's lyre, just as we nail the owls to the walls of our -Breton farms; and there would have been no more question of him." - -"My dear Raoul, you would first have had to climb up to Apollo's lyre: -that is no easy matter." - -"The blazing eyes were there!" - -"Oh, you are getting like me now, seeing him everywhere! -What I took for blazing eyes was probably a couple of stars shining -through the strings of the lyre." - -And Christine went down another floor, with Raoul following her. - -"As you have quite made up your mind to go, Christine, I assure -you it would be better to go at once. Why wait for to-morrow? He -may have heard us to-night." - -"No, no, he is working, I tell you, at his Don Juan Triumphant -and not thinking of us." - -"You're so sure of that you keep on looking behind you!" - -"Come to my dressing-room." - -"Hadn't we better meet outside the Opera?" - -"Never, till we go away for good! It would bring us bad luck, -if I did not keep my word. I promised him to see you only here." - -"It's a good thing for me that he allowed you even that. Do you know," -said Raoul bitterly, "that it was very plucky of you to let us play -at being engaged?" - -"Why, my dear, he knows all about it! He said, `I trust you, -Christine. M. de Chagny is in love with you and is going abroad. -Before he goes, I want him to be as happy as I am.' Are people -so unhappy when they love?" - -"Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved." - -They came to Christine's dressing-room. - -"Why do you think that you are safer in this room than on the stage?" -asked Raoul. "You heard him through the walls here, therefore he -can certainly hear us." - -"No. He gave me his word not to be behind the walls of my dressing-room -again and I believe Erik's word. This room and my bedroom -on the lake are for me, exclusively, and not to be approached by him." - -"How can you have gone from this room into that dark passage, -Christine? Suppose we try to repeat your movements; shall we?" - -"It is dangerous, dear, for the glass might carry me off again; -and, instead of running away, I should be obliged to go to the end -of the secret passage to the lake and there call Erik." - -"Would he hear you?" - -"Erik will hear me wherever I call him. He told me so. He is a -very curious genius. You must not think, Raoul, that he is simply -a man who amuses himself by living underground. He does things that -no other man could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows." - -"Take care, Christine, you are making a ghost of him again!" - -"No, he is not a ghost; he is a man of Heaven and earth, that is all." - -"A man of Heaven and earth...that is all!...A nice way to speak of him! -...And are you still resolved to run away from him?" - -"Yes, to-morrow." - -"To-morrow, you will have no resolve left!" - -"Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself; -is that understood?" - -"I shall be here at twelve to-morrow night; I shall keep my promise, -whatever happens. You say that, after listening to the performance, -he is to wait for you in the dining-room on the lake?" - -"Yes." - -"And how are you to reach him, if you don't know how to go out -by the glass?" - -"Why, by going straight to the edge of the lake." - -Christine opened a box, took out an enormous key and showed it -to Raoul. - -"What's that?" he asked. - -"The key of the gate to the underground passage in the Rue Scribe." - -"I understand, Christine. It leads straight to the lake. -Give it to me, Christine, will you?" - -"Never!" she said. "That would be treacherous!" - -Suddenly Christine changed color. A mortal pallor overspread -her features. - -"Oh heavens!" she cried. "Erik! Erik! Have pity on me!" - -"Hold your tongue!" said Raoul. "You told me he could hear you!" - -But the singer's attitude became more and more inexplicable. -She wrung her fingers, repeating, with a distraught air; - -"Oh, Heaven! Oh, Heaven!" - -"But what is it? What is it?" Raoul implored. - -"The ring...the gold ring he gave me." - -"Oh, so Erik gave you that ring!" - -"You know he did, Raoul! But what you don't know is that, -when he gave it to me, he said, `I give you back your liberty, -Christine, on condition that this ring is always on your finger. -As long as you keep it, you will be protected against all danger -and Erik will remain your friend. But woe to you if you ever part -with it, for Erik will have his revenge!'...My dear, my dear, -the ring is gone!...Woe to us both!" - -They both looked for the ring, but could not find it. -Christine refused to be pacified. - -"It was while I gave you that kiss, up above, under Apollo's lyre," -she said. "The ring must have slipped from my finger and dropped -into the street! We can never find it. And what misfortunes are -in store for us now! Oh, to run away!" - -"Let us run away at once," Raoul insisted, once more. - -She hesitated. He thought that she was going to say yes. -... Then her bright pupils became dimmed and she said: - -"No! To-morrow!" - -And she left him hurriedly, still wringing and rubbing her fingers, -as though she hoped to bring the ring back like that. - -Raoul went home, greatly perturbed at all that he had heard. - -{two page color illustration} -They Sat Like that for a Moment in Silence - -"If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug," he said, -aloud, as he went to bed, "she is lost. But I shall save her." - -He put out his lamp and felt a need to insult Erik in the dark. -Thrice over, he shouted: - -"Humbug!...Humbug!...Humbug!" - -But, suddenly, he raised himself on his elbow. A cold sweat poured -from his temples. Two eyes, like blazing coals, had appeared -at the foot of his bed. They stared at him fixedly, terribly, -in the darkness of the night. - -Raoul was no coward; and yet he trembled. He put out a groping, -hesitating hand toward the table by his bedside. He found the matches -and lit his candle. The eyes disappeared. - -Still uneasy in his mind, he thought to himself: - -"She told me that HIS eyes only showed in the dark. His eyes -have disappeared in the light, but HE may be there still." - -And he rose, hunted about, went round the room. He looked -under his bed, like a child. Then he thought himself absurd, -got into bed again and blew out the candle. The eyes reappeared. - -He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed. -Then he cried: - -"Is that you, Erik? Man, genius, or ghost, is it you?" - -He reflected: "If it's he, he's on the balcony!" - -Then he ran to the chest of drawers and groped for his revolver. -He opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and closed -the window again. He went back to bed, shivering, for the night -was cold, and put the revolver on the table within his reach. - -The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed. Were they -between the bed and the window-pane or behind the pane, that is -to say, on the balcony? That was what Raoul wanted to know. -He also wanted to know if those eyes belonged to a human being. -...He wanted to know everything. Then, patiently, calmly, he seized -his revolver and took aim. He aimed a little above the two eyes. -Surely, if they were eyes and if above those two eyes there was -a forehead and if Raoul was not too clumsy... - -The shot made a terrible din amid the silence of the slumbering house. -And, while footsteps came hurrying along the passages, Raoul sat -up with outstretched arm, ready to fire again, if need be. - -This time, the two eyes had disappeared. - -Servants appeared, carrying lights; Count Philippe, terribly anxious: - -"What is it?" - -"I think I have been dreaming," replied the young man. "I fired -at two stars that kept me from sleeping." - -"You're raving! Are you ill? For God's sake, tell me, Raoul: -what happened?" - -And the count seized hold of the revolver. - -"No, no, I'm not raving. .. Besides, we shall soon see..." - -He got out of bed, put on a dressing-gown and slippers, took a light -from the hands of a servant and, opening the window, stepped out -on the balcony. - -The count saw that the window had been pierced by a bullet at a -man's height. Raoul was leaning over the balcony with his candle: -"Aha!" he said. "Blood!...Blood!..... Here, there, more blood! -... That's a good thing! A ghost who bleeds is less dangerous!" -he grinned. - -"Raoul! Raoul! Raoul!" - -The count was shaking him as though he were trying to waken -a sleep-walker. - -"But, my dear brother, I'm not asleep!" Raoul protested impatiently. -"You can see the blood for yourself. I thought I had been dreaming -and firing at two stars. It was Erik's eyes...and here is his -blood!...After all, perhaps I was wrong to shoot; and Christine -is quite capable of never forgiving me....All this would not -have happened if I had drawn the curtains before going to bed." - -"Raoul, have you suddenly gone mad? Wake up!" - -"What, still? You would do better to help me find Erik...for, -after all, a ghost who bleeds can always be found." - -The count's valet said: - -"That is so, sir; there is blood on the balcony." - -The other man-servant brought a lamp, by the light of which they -examined the balcony carefully. The marks of blood followed the rail -till they reached a gutter-spout; then they went up the gutter-spout. - -"My dear fellow," said Count Philippe, "you have fired at a cat." - -"The misfortune is," said Raoul, with a grin, "that it's -quite possible. With Erik, you never know. Is it Erik? -Is it the cat? Is it the ghost? No, with Erik, you can't tell!" - -Raoul went on making this strange sort of remarks which corresponded -so intimately and logically with the preoccupation of his brain -and which, at the same time, tended to persuade many people -that his mind was unhinged. The count himself was seized with -this idea; and, later, the examining magistrate, on receiving -the report of the commissary of police, came to the same conclusion. - -"Who is Erik?" asked the count, pressing his brother's hand. - -"He is my rival. And, if he's not dead, it's a pity." - -He dismissed the servants with a wave of the hand and the two -Chagnys were left alone. But the men were not out of earshot -before the count's valet heard Raoul say, distinctly and emphatically: - -"I shall carry off Christine Daae to-night." - -This phrase was afterward repeated to M. Faure, the examining-magistrate. -But no one ever knew exactly what passed between the two -brothers at this interview. The servants declared that this -was not their first quarrel. Their voices penetrated the wall; -and it was always an actress called Christine Daae that was in question. - -At breakfast--the early morning breakfast, which the count took -in his study--Philippe sent for his brother. Raoul arrived silent -and gloomy. The scene was a very short one. Philippe handed -his brother a copy of the Epoque and said: - -"Read that!" - -The viscount read: - -"The latest news in the Faubourg is that there is a promise of marriage -between Mlle. Christine Daae, the opera-singer, and M. le Vicomte -Raoul de Chagny. If the gossips are to be credited, Count Philippe -has sworn that, for the first time on record, the Chagnys shall not -keep their promise. But, as love is all-powerful, at the Opera as-- -and even more than--elsewhere, we wonder how Count Philippe intends -to prevent the viscount, his brother, from leading the new Margarita -to the altar. The two brothers are said to adore each other; -but the count is curiously mistaken if he imagines that brotherly -love will triumph over love pure and simple." - -"You see, Raoul," said the count, "you are making us ridiculous! -That little girl has turned your head with her ghost-stories." - -The viscount had evidently repeated Christine's narrative -to his brother, during the night. All that he now said was: - -"Good-by, Philippe." - -"Have you quite made up your mind? You are going to-night? With her?" - -No reply. - -"Surely you will not do anything so foolish? I SHALL know -how to prevent you!" - -"Good-by, Philippe," said the viscount again and left the room. - -This scene was described to the examining-magistrate by the -count himself, who did not see Raoul again until that evening, -at the Opera, a few minutes before Christine's disappearance. - -Raoul, in fact, devoted the whole day to his preparations for -the flight. The horses, the carriage, the coachman, the provisions, -the luggage, the money required for the journey, the road to be -taken (he had resolved not to go by train, so as to throw the ghost -off the scent): all this had to be settled and provided for; -and it occupied him until nine o'clock at night. - -At nine o'clock, a sort of traveling-barouche with the curtains of its -windows close-down, took its place in the rank on the Rotunda side. -It was drawn by two powerful horses driven by a coachman whose -face was almost concealed in the long folds of a muffler. -In front of this traveling-carriage were three broughams, -belonging respectively to Carlotta, who had suddenly returned to Paris, -to Sorelli and, at the head of the rank, to Comte Philippe de Chagny. -No one left the barouche. The coachman remained on his box, -and the three other coachmen remained on theirs. - -A shadow in a long black cloak and a soft black felt hat passed along -the pavement between the Rotunda and the carriages, examined the barouche -carefully, went up to the horses and the coachman and then moved away -without saying a word, The magistrate afterward believed that this -shadow was that of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny; but I do not agree, -seeing that that evening, as every evening, the Vicomte de Chagny -was wearing a tall hat, which hat, besides, was subsequently found. -I am more inclined to think that the shadow was that of the ghost, -who knew all about the whole affair, as the reader will soon perceive. - -They were giving FAUST, as it happened, before a splendid house. -The Faubourg was magnificently represented; and the paragraph -in that morning's EPOQUE had already produced its effect, for all -eyes were turned to the box in which Count Philippe sat alone, -apparently in a very indifferent and careless frame of mind. -The feminine element in the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled; -and the viscount's absence gave rise to any amount of whispering -behind the fans. Christine Daae met with a rather cold reception. -That special audience could not forgive her for aiming so high. - -The singer noticed this unfavorable attitude of a portion -of the house and was confused by it. - -The regular frequenters of the Opera, who pretended to know -the truth about the viscount's love-story, exchanged significant -smiles at certain passages in Margarita's part; and they made a show -of turning and looking at Philippe de Chagny's box when Christine sang: - - "I wish I could but know who was he - That addressed me, - If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is." - -The count sat with his chin on his hand and seemed to pay no attention -to these manifestations. He kept his eyes fixed on the stage; -but his thoughts appeared to be far away. - -Christine lost her self-assurance more and more. She trembled. -She felt on the verge of a breakdown....Carolus Fonta -wondered if she was ill, if she could keep the stage until the end -of the Garden Act. In the front of the house, people remembered -the catastrophe that had befallen Carlotta at the end of that act -and the historic "co-ack" which had momentarily interrupted her -career in Paris. - -Just then, Carlotta made her entrance in a box facing the stage, -a sensational entrance. Poor Christine raised her eyes upon this -fresh subject of excitement. She recognized her rival. She thought -she saw a sneer on her lips. That saved her. She forgot everything, -in order to triumph once more. - -From that moment the prima donna sang with all her heart and soul. -She tried to surpass all that she had done till then; and she succeeded. -In the last act when she began the invocation to the angels, -she made all the members of the audience feel as though they too -had wings. - -In the center of the amphitheater a man stood up and remained standing, -facing the singer. It was Raoul. - -"Holy angel, in Heaven blessed..." - -And Christine, her arms outstretched, her throat filled with music, -the glory of her hair falling over her bare shoulders, uttered the -divine cry: - -"My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -It was at that moment that the stage was suddenly plunged in darkness. -It happened so quickly that the spectators hardly had time to utter -a sound of stupefaction, for the gas at once lit up the stage again. -But Christine Daae was no longer there! - -What had become of her? What was that miracle? All exchanged -glances without understanding, and the excitement at once reached -its height. Nor was the tension any less great on the stage itself. -Men rushed from the wings to the spot where Christine had been -singing that very instant. The performance was interrupted amid -the greatest disorder. - -Where had Christine gone? What witchcraft had snatched her, -away before the eyes of thousands of enthusiastic onlookers and from -the arms of Carolus Fonta himself? It was as though the angels -had really carried her up "to rest." - -Raoul, still standing up in the amphitheater, had uttered a cry. -Count Philippe had sprung to his feet in his box. People looked -at the stage, at the count, at Raoul, and wondered if this -curious event was connected in any way with the paragraph in that -morning's paper. But Raoul hurriedly left his seat, the count -disappeared from his box and, while the curtain was lowered, -the subscribers rushed to the door that led behind the scenes. -The rest of the audience waited amid an indescribable hubbub. -Every one spoke at once. Every one tried to suggest an explanation -of the extraordinary incident. - -At last, the curtain rose slowly and Carolus Fonta stepped -to the conductor's desk and, in a sad and serious voice, said: - -"Ladies and gentlemen, an unprecedented event has taken place and -thrown us into a state of the greatest alarm. Our sister-artist, -Christine Daae, has disappeared before our eyes and nobody can -tell us how!" - - - -Chapter XIV The Singular Attitude of a Safety-Pin - - -Behind the curtain, there was an indescribable crowd. -Artists, scene-shifters, dancers, supers, choristers, subscribers -were all asking questions, shouting and hustling one another. - -"What became of her?" - -"She's run away." - -"With the Vicomte de Chagny, of course!" - -"No, with the count!" - -"Ah, here's Carlotta! Carlotta did the trick!" - -"No, it was the ghost!" And a few laughed, especially as a -careful examination of the trap-doors and boards had put the idea -of an accident out of the question. - -Amid this noisy throng, three men stood talking in a low voice -and with despairing gestures. They were Gabriel, the chorus-master; -Mercier, the acting-manager; and Remy, the secretary. They retired -to a corner of the lobby by which the stage communicates -with the wide passage leading to the foyer of the ballet. -Here they stood and argued behind some enormous "properties." - -"I knocked at the door," said Remy. "They did not answer. -Perhaps they are not in the office. In any case, it's impossible -to find out, for they took the keys with them." - -"They" were obviously the managers, who had given orders, -during the last entr'acte, that they were not to be disturbed -on any pretext whatever. They were not in to anybody. - -"All the same," exclaimed Gabriel, "a singer isn't run away with, -from the middle of the stage, every day!" - -"Did you shout that to them?" asked Mercier, impatiently. - -"I'll go back again," said Remy, and disappeared at a run. - -Thereupon the stage-manager arrived. - -"Well, M. Mercier, are you coming? What are you two doing here? -You're wanted, Mr. Acting-Manager." - -"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives," -declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when -he comes!" - -"And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." - -"Not before the commissary comes." - -"I've been down to the organ myself already." - -"Ah! And what did you see?" - -"Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear--nobody!" - -"What do you want me to do down there for{sic}?" - -"You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his -hands through his rebellious hair. "You're right! But there -might be some one at the organ who could tell us how the stage came -to be suddenly darkened. Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found. -Do you understand that?" - -Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on -the stage of the Opera. - -"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback. -"Well, what about his assistants?" - -"There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, -I tell you! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that -little girl must have been carried off by somebody else: she didn't -run away by herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find -out about it....And what are the managers doing all this time? -... I gave orders that no one was to go down to the lights and I -posted a fireman in front of the gas-man's box beside the organ. -Wasn't that right?" - -"Yes, yes, quite right, quite right. And now let's wait -for the commissary." - -The stage-manager walked away, shrugging his shoulders, fuming, -muttering insults at those milksops who remained quietly squatting -in a corner while the whole theater was topsyturvy{sic}. - -Gabriel and Mercier were not so quiet as all that. Only they -had received an order that paralyzed them. The managers were not -to be disturbed on any account. Remy had violated that order -and met with no success. - -At that moment he returned from his new expedition, wearing a -curiously startled air. - -"Well, have you seen them?" asked Mercier. - -"Moncharmin opened the door at last. His eyes were starting out -of his head. I thought he meant to strike me. I could not get -a word in; and what do you think he shouted at me? `Have you -a safety-pin?' `No!' `Well, then, clearout!' I tried to tell him -that an unheard-of thing had happened on the stage, but he roared, -`A safety-pin! Give me a safety-pin at once!' A boy heard him-- -he was bellowing like a bull--ran up with a safety-pin and gave it -to him; whereupon Moncharmin slammed the door in my face, and there -you are!" - -"And couldn't you have said, `Christine Daae.'" - -"I should like to have seen you in my place. He was foaming at -the mouth. He thought of nothing but his safety-pin. I believe, -if they hadn't brought him one on the spot, he would have fallen -down in a fit!...Oh, all this isn't natural; and our managers -are going mad!...Besides, it can't go on like this! I'm not used -to being treated in that fashion!" - -Suddenly Gabriel whispered: - -"It's another trick of O. G.'s." - -Rimy gave a grin, Mercier a sigh and seemed about to speak...but, -meeting Gabriel's eye, said nothing. - -However, Mercier felt his responsibility increased as the minutes -passed without the managers' appearing; and, at last, he could -stand it no longer. - -"Look here, I'll go and hunt them out myself!" - -Gabriel, turning very gloomy and serious, stopped him. - -"Be careful what you're doing, Mercier! If they're staying -in their office, it's probably because they have to! O. G. has -more than one trick in his bag!" - -But Mercier shook his head. - -"That's their lookout! I'm going! If people had listened to me, -the police would have known everything long ago!" - -And he went. - -"What's everything?" asked Remy. "What was there to tell the police? -Why don't you answer, Gabriel?...Ah, so you know something! -Well, you would do better to tell me, too, if you don't want me -to shout out that you are all going mad!...Yes, that's what -you are: mad!" - -Gabriel put on a stupid look and pretended not to understand -the private secretary's unseemly outburst. - -"What `something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know -what you mean." - -Remy began to lose his temper. - -"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics, -here, between the acts." - -"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed. - -"Then you're the only one!...Do you think that I didn't see -them?...And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, -noticed nothing?...And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, -has no eyes to see with?...Why, all the subscribers were pointing -at our managers!" - -"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his -most innocent air. - -"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they -were doing!...You were there!...And you were watching them, -you and Mercier!...And you were the only two who didn't laugh." - -"I don't understand!" - -Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, -which gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest -him in the least. Remy continued: - -"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY -HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM NOW?" - -"What? WON'T THEY HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?" - -"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!" - -"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH -THEM? That is certainly odd!" - -"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK BACKWARD!" - -"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought -that only crabs walked backward!" - -"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!" - -"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge. - -"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend -of the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer, -during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did -M. Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, `Go away! Go away! -Whatever you do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have -an infectious disease?" - -"It's incredible!" - -"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard, -didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear -him exclaim, `M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch -M. le Directeur'?" - -"It's terrible!...And what was Richard doing meanwhile?" - -"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, -BOWED IN FRONT OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, -AND WITHDREW BACKWARD." - -"BACKWARD?" - -"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, -he described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED -BACKWARD!...And they went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading -to the managers' office: BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! -... Well, if they are not mad, will you explain what it means?" - -"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggested Gabriel, -without much conviction in his voice. - -The secretary was furious at this wretched joke, made at so -dramatic a moment. He knit his brows and contracted his lips. -Then he put his mouth to Gabriel's ear: - -"Don't be so sly, Gabriel. There are things going on for which you -and Mercier are partly responsible." - -"What do you mean?" asked Gabriel. - -"Christine Daae is not the only one who suddenly disappeared to-night." - -"Oh, nonsense!" - -"There's no nonsense about it. Perhaps you can tell me why, -when Mother Giry came down to the foyer just now, Mercier took -her by the hand and hurried her away with him?" - -"Really?" said Gabriel, "I never saw it." - -"You did see it, Gabriel, for you went with Mercier and Mother Giry -to Mercier's office. Since then, you and Mercier have been seen, -but no one has seen Mother Giry." - -"Do you think we've eaten her?" - -"No, but you've locked her up in the office; and any one passing -the office can hear her yelling, `Oh, the scoundrels! Oh, -the scoundrels!'" - -At this point of this singular conversation, Mercier arrived, -all out of breath. - -"There!" he said, in a gloomy voice. "It's worse than ever!... -I shouted, `It's a serious matter! Open the door! It's I, Mercier.' -I heard footsteps. The door opened and Moncharmin appeared. -He was very pale. He said, `What do you want?' I answered, `Some one -has run away with Christine Daae.' What do you think he said? -`And a good job, too!' And he shut the door, after putting this -in my hand." - -Mercier opened his hand; Remy and Gabriel looked. - -"The safety-pin!" cried Remy. - -"Strange! Strange!" muttered Gabriel, who could not help shivering. - -Suddenly a voice made them all three turn round. - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine -Daae is?" - -In spite of the seriousness of the circumstances, the absurdity -of the question would have made them roar with laughter, if they -had not caught sight of a face so sorrow-stricken that they were -at once seized with pity. It was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. - - - -Chapter XV Christine! Christine! - - -Raoul's first thought, after Christine Daae's fantastic disappearance, -was to accuse Erik. He no longer doubted the almost supernatural -powers of the Angel of Music, in this domain of the Opera in -which he had set up his empire. And Raoul rushed on the stage, -in a mad fit of love and despair. - -"Christine! Christine!" he moaned, calling to her as he felt -that she must be calling to him from the depths of that dark pit -to which the monster had carried her. "Christine! Christine!" - -And he seemed to hear the girl's screams through the frail boards -that separated him from her. He bent forward, he listened, -...he wandered over the stage like a madman. Ah, to descend, -to descend into that pit of darkness every entrance to which was -closed to him,...for the stairs that led below the stage were -forbidden to one and all that night! - -"Christine! Christine!..." - -People pushed him aside, laughing. They made fun of him. -They thought the poor lover's brain was gone! - -By what mad road, through what passages of mystery and darkness -known to him alone had Erik dragged that pure-souled child to the -awful haunt, with the Louis-Philippe room, opening out on the lake? - -"Christine! Christine!...Why don't you answer?...Are you -alive?..." - -Hideous thoughts flashed through Raoul's congested brain. -Of course, Erik must have discovered their secret, must have known -that Christine had played him false. What a vengeance would be his! - -And Raoul thought again of the yellow stars that had come, -the night before, and roamed over his balcony. Why had he not put -them out for good? There were some men's eyes that dilated in the -darkness and shone like stars or like cats' eyes. Certainly Albinos, -who seemed to have rabbits' eyes by day, had cats' eyes at night: -everybody knew that!...Yes, yes, he had undoubtedly fired at Erik. -Why had he not killed him? The monster had fled up the gutter-spout -like a cat or a convict who--everybody knew that also--would scale -the very skies, with the help of a gutter-spout....No doubt Erik -was at that time contemplating some decisive step against Raoul, -but he had been wounded and had escaped to turn against poor -Christine instead. - -Such were the cruel thoughts that haunted Raoul as he ran -to the singer's dressing-room. - -"Christine! Christine!" - -Bitter tears scorched the boy's eyelids as he saw scattered over -the furniture the clothes which his beautiful bride was to have worn -at the hour of their flight. Oh, why had she refused to leave earlier? - -Why had she toyed with the threatening catastrophe? Why toyed -with the monster's heart? Why, in a final access of pity, -had she insisted on flinging, as a last sop to that demon's soul, -her divine song: - - "Holy angel, in Heaven blessed, - My spirit longs with thee to rest!" - -Raoul, his throat filled with sobs, oaths and insults, -fumbled awkwardly at the great mirror that had opened one night, -before his eyes, to let Christine pass to the murky dwelling below. -He pushed, pressed, groped about, but the glass apparently obeyed -no one but Erik....Perhaps actions were not enough with a glass -of the kind? Perhaps he was expected to utter certain words? -When he was a little boy, he had heard that there were things -that obeyed the spoken word! - -Suddenly, Raoul remembered something about a gate opening into -the Rue Scribe, an underground passage running straight to the Rue -Scribe from the lake....Yes, Christine had told him about that. -...And, when he found that the key was no longer in the box, -he nevertheless ran to the Rue Scribe. Outside, in the street, -he passed his trembling hands over the huge stones, felt for outlets -...met with iron bars...were those they?...Or these?... -Or could it be that air-hole?...He plunged his useless eyes -through the bars....How dark it was in there!...He listened.... -All was silence!...He went round the building...and came to bigger bars, -immense gates!...It was the entrance to the Cour de I'Administration. - -Raoul rushed into the doorkeeper's lodge. - -"I beg your pardon, madame, could you tell me where to find a gate -or door, made of bars, iron bars, opening into the Rue Scribe... -and leading to the lake?...You know the lake I mean?...Yes, -the underground lake...under the Opera." - -"Yes, sir, I know there is a lake under the Opera, but I don't know -which door leads to it. I have never been there!" - -"And the Rue Scribe, madame, the Rue Scribe? Have you never been -to the Rue Scribe?" - -The woman laughed, screamed with laughter! Raoul darted away, -roaring with anger, ran up-stairs, four stairs at a time, -down-stairs, rushed through the whole of the business side -of the opera-house, found himself once more in the light of the stage. - -He stopped, with his heart thumping in his chest: suppose Christine -Daae had been found? He saw a group of men and asked: - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine -Daae is?" - -And somebody laughed. - -At the same moment the stage buzzed with a new sound and, amid a crowd -of men in evening-dress, all talking and gesticulating together, -appeared a man who seemed very calm and displayed a pleasant face, -all pink and chubby-cheeked, crowned with curly hair and lit up by a -pair of wonderfully serene blue eyes. Mercier, the acting-manager, -called the Vicomte de Chagny's attention to him and said: - -"This is the gentleman to whom you should put your question, monsieur. -Let me introduce Mifroid, the commissary of police." - -"Ah, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! Delighted to meet you, monsieur," -said the commissary. "Would you mind coming with me?...And -now where are the managers?...Where are the managers?" - -Mercier did not answer, and Remy, the secretary, volunteered the -information that the managers were locked up in their office -and that they knew nothing as yet of what had happened. - -"You don't mean to say so! Let us go up to the office!" - -And M. Mifroid, followed by an ever-increasing crowd, turned toward -the business side of the building. Mercier took advantage -of the confusion to slip a key into Gabriel's hand: - -"This is all going very badly," he whispered. "You had better let -Mother Giry out." - -And Gabriel moved away. - -They soon came to the managers' door. Mercier stormed in vain: -the door remained closed. - -"Open in the name of the law!" commanded M. Mifroid, in a loud -and rather anxious voice. - -At last the door was opened. All rushed in to the office, -on the commissary's heels. - -Raoul was the last to enter. As he was about to follow the rest -into the room, a hand was laid on his shoulder and he heard these words -spoken in his ear: - -"ERIK'S SECRETS CONCERN NO ONE BUT HIMSELF!" - -He turned around, with a stifled exclamation. The hand that was -laid on his shoulder was now placed on the lips of a person with an -ebony skin, with eyes of jade and with an astrakhan cap on his head: -the Persian! The stranger kept up the gesture that recommended -discretion and then, at the moment when the astonished viscount -was about to ask the reason of his mysterious intervention, -bowed and disappeared. - - - -Chapter XVI Mme. Giry's Astounding Revelations as to Her -Personal Relations with the Opera Ghost - - -Before following the commissary into the manager's office I -must describe certain extraordinary occurrences that took place -in that office which Remy and Mercier had vainly tried to enter -and into which MM. Richard and Moncharmin had locked themselves -with an object which the reader does not yet know, but which it -is my duty, as an historian, to reveal without further postponement. - -I have had occasion to say that the managers' mood had undergone -a disagreeable change for some time past and to convey the fact -that this change was due not only to the fall of the chandelier -on the famous night of the gala performance. - -The reader must know that the ghost had calmly been paid his first -twenty thousand francs. Oh, there had been wailing and gnashing -of teeth, indeed! And yet the thing had happened as simply as could be. - -One morning, the managers found on their table an envelope -addressed to "Monsieur O. G. (private)" and accompanied by a note -from O. G. himself: - -The time has come to carry out the clause in the memorandum-book. -Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope, -seal it with your own seal and hand it to Mme. Giry, who will do -what is necessary. - -The managers did not hesitate; without wasting time in asking -how these confounded communications came to be delivered in an -office which they were careful to keep locked, they seized this -opportunity of laying hands, on the mysterious blackmailer. -And, after telling the whole story, under the promise of secrecy, -to Gabriel and Mercier, they put the twenty thousand francs into the -envelope and without asking for explanations, handed it to Mme. Giry, -who had been reinstated in her functions. The box-keeper displayed -no astonishment. I need hardly say that she was well watched. -She went straight to the ghost's box and placed the precious envelope -on the little shelf attached to the ledge. The two managers, -as well as Gabriel and Mercier, were hidden in such a way that -they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second during the -performance and even afterward, for, as the envelope had not moved, -those who watched it did not move either; and Mme. Giry went -away while the managers, Gabriel and Mercier were still there. -At last, they became tired of waiting and opened the envelope, -after ascertaining that the seals had not been broken. - -At first sight, Richard and Moncharmin thought that the notes were -still there; but soon they perceived that they were not the same. -The twenty real notes were gone and had been replaced by twenty notes, -of the "Bank of St. Farce"![2] - ----- -[2] Flash notes drawn on the "Bank of St. Farce" in France -correspond with those drawn on the "Bank of Engraving" in England.-- -Translator's Note. - -The managers' rage and fright were unmistakable. Moncharmin wanted -to send for the commissary of police, but Richard objected. -He no doubt had a plan, for he said: - -"Don't let us make ourselves ridiculous! All Paris would laugh at us. -O. G. has won the first game: we will win the second." - -He was thinking of the next month's allowance. - -Nevertheless, they had been so absolutely tricked that they were -bound to suffer a certain dejection. And, upon my word, it was not -difficult to understand. We must not forget that the managers had -an idea at the back of their minds, all the time, that this strange -incident might be an unpleasant practical joke on the part of their -predecessors and that it would not do to divulge it prematurely. -On the other hand, Moncharmin was sometimes troubled with a suspicion -of Richard himself, who occasionally took fanciful whims into -his head. And so they were content to await events, while keeping -an eye on Mother Giry. Richard would not have her spoken to. - -"If she is a confederate," he said, "the notes are gone long ago. -But, in my opinion, she is merely an idiot." - -"She's not the only idiot in this business," said Moncharmin pensively. - -"Well, who could have thought it?" moaned Richard. "But don't -be afraid...next time, I shall have taken my precautions." - -The next time fell on the same day that beheld the disappearance -of Christine Daae. In the morning, a note from the ghost reminded them -that the money was due. It read: - -Do just as you did last time. It went very well. Put the twenty -thousand in the envelope and hand it to our excellent Mme. Giry. - -And the note was accompanied by the usual envelope. They had only -to insert the notes. - -This was done about half an hour before the curtain rose on the -first act of Faust. Richard showed the envelope to Moncharmin. -Then he counted the twenty thousand-franc notes in front of him -and put the notes into the envelope, but without closing it. - -"And now," he said, "let's have Mother Giry in." - -The old woman was sent for. She entered with a sweeping courtesy. -She still wore her black taffeta dress, the color of which was rapidly -turning to rust and lilac, to say nothing of the dingy bonnet. -She seemed in a good temper. She at once said: - -"Good evening, gentlemen! It's for the envelope, I suppose?" - -"Yes, Mme. Giry," said Richard, most amiably. "For the envelope -... and something else besides." - -"At your service, M. Richard, at your service. And what is -the something else, please?" - -"First of all, Mme. Giry, I have a little question to put to you." - -"By all means, M. Richard: Mme. Giry is here to answer you." - -"Are you still on good terms with the ghost?" - -"Couldn't be better, sir; couldn't be better." - -"Ah, we are delighted....Look here, Mme. Giry," said Richard, -in the tone of making an important confidence. "We may just as well -tell you, among ourselves...you're no fool!" - -"Why, sir," exclaimed the box-keeper, stopping the pleasant nodding -of the black feathers in her dingy bonnet, "I assure you no one has -ever doubted that!" - -"We are quite agreed and we shall soon understand one another. -The story of the ghost is all humbug, isn't it?...Well, -still between ourselves,...it has lasted long enough." - -Mme. Giry looked at the managers as though they were talking Chinese. -She walked up to Richard's table and asked, rather anxiously: - -"What do you mean? I don't understand." - -"Oh, you, understand quite well. In any case, you've got to understand. -... And, first of all, tell us his name." - -"Whose name?" - -"The name of the man whose accomplice you are, Mme. Giry!" - -"I am the ghost's accomplice? I?...His accomplice in what, pray?" - -"You do all he wants." - -"Oh! He's not very troublesome, you know." - -"And does he still tip you?" - -"I mustn't complain." - -"How much does he give you for bringing him that envelope?" - -"Ten francs." - -"You poor thing! That's not much, is it? - -"Why?" - -"I'll tell you that presently, Mme. Giry. Just now we should like -to know for what extraordinary reason you have given yourself body -and soul, to this ghost...Mme. Giry's friendship and devotion -are not to be bought for five francs or ten francs." - -"That's true enough....And I can tell you the reason, sir. -There's no disgrace about it. .. on the contrary." - -"We're quite sure of that, Mme. Giry!" - -"Well, it's like this...only the ghost doesn't like me to talk -about his business." - -"Indeed?" sneered Richard. - -"But this is a matter that concerns myself alone....Well, -it was in Box Five one evening, I found a letter addressed to myself, -a sort of note written in red ink. I needn't read the letter to -you sir; I know it by heart, and I shall never forget it if I live -to be a hundred!" - -And Mme. Giry, drawing herself up, recited the letter with -touching eloquence: - -MADAM: - -1825. Mlle. Menetrier, leader of the ballet, became Marquise -de Cussy. - -1832. Mlle. Marie Taglioni, a dancer, became Comtesse Gilbert -des Voisins. - -1846. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain. - -1847. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King -Louis of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld. - -1848. Mlle. Maria, a dancer, became Baronne d'Herneville. - -1870. Theresa Hessier, a dancer, married Dom Fernando, brother to -the King of Portugal. - -Richard and Moncharmin listened to the old woman, who, as she -proceeded with the enumeration of these glorious nuptials, -swelled out, took courage and, at last, in a voice bursting -with pride, flung out the last sentence of the prophetic letter: - -1885. Meg Giry, Empress! - -Exhausted by this supreme effort, the box-keeper fell into -a chair, saying: - -"Gentlemen, the letter was signed, `Opera Ghost.' I had heard much -of the ghost, but only half believed in him. From the day when he -declared that my little Meg, the flesh of my flesh, the fruit -of my womb, would be empress, I believed in him altogether." - -And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry's -excited features to understand what could be got out of that fine -intellect with the two words "ghost" and "empress." - -But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? -That was the question. - -"You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he says?" -asked Moncharmin. - -"Yes. To begin with, I owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted -to be the leader of a row. I said to the ghost, `If she is to be empress -in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at once.' -He said, `Look upon it as done.' And he had only a word to say -to M. Poligny and the thing was done." - -"So you see that M. Poligny saw him!" - -"No, not any more than I did; but he heard him. The ghost said -a word in his ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, -looking so dreadfully pale." - -Moncharmin heaved a sigh. "What a business!" he groaned. - -"Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between -the ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny -to do M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." - -"Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of -the ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! -... But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. -"The only person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry. -... Mme. Giry, do you know what is in this envelope?" - -"Why, of course not," she said. - -"Well, look." - -Mine. Giry looked into the envelope with a lackluster eye, -which soon recovered its brilliancy. - -"Thousand-franc notes!" she cried. - -"Yes, Mme. Giry, thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" - -"I, sir? I?...I swear..." - -"Don't swear, Mme. Giry!...And now I will tell you the second -reason why I sent for you. Mme. Giry, I am going to have you arrested." - -The two black feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected -the attitude of two notes of interrogation, changed into two notes -of exclamation; as for the bonnet itself, it swayed in menace -on the old lady's tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, -protest and dismay were furthermore displayed by little Meg's mother -in a sort of extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, -half slide, that brought her right under the nose of M. Richard, -who could not help pushing back his chair. - -"HAVE ME ARRESTED!" - -The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth -that were left to it into Richard's face. - -M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. -His threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out -the keeper of Box Five to the absent magistrates. - -"I am going to have you arrested, Mme. Giry, as a thief!" - -"Say that again!" - -And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear, -before Mr. Manager Moncharmin had time to intervene. But it -was not the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on -the managerial ear, but the envelope itself, the cause of all the trouble, -the magic envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, -which escaped in a fantastic whirl of giant butterflies. - -The two managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both -go on their knees, feverishly, picking up and hurriedly examining -the precious scraps of paper. - -"Are they still genuine, Moncharmin?" - -"Are they still genuine, Richard?" - -"Yes, they are still genuine!" - -Above their heads, Mme. Giry's three teeth were clashing in a -noisy contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could -be clearly distinguished was this LEIT-MOTIF: - -"I, a thief!...I, a thief, I?" - -She choked with rage. She shouted: - -"I never heard of such a thing!" - -And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. - -"In any case," she yelped, "you, M. Richard, ought to know better -than I where the twenty thousand francs went to!" - -"I?" asked Richard, astounded. "And how should I know?" - -Moncharmin, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once insisted -that the good lady should explain herself. - -"What does this mean, Mme. Giry?" he asked. "And why do you say that -M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand -francs went to?" - -As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmin's eyes, -he took Mme. Giry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice -growling and rolling like thunder, he roared: - -"Why should I know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs -went to? Why? Answer me!" - -"Because they went into your pocket!" gasped the old woman, -looking at him as if he were the devil incarnate. - -Richard would have rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not -stayed his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently: - -"How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thousand -francs in his pocket?" - -"I never said that," declared Mme. Giry, "seeing that it was myself -who put the twenty-thousand francs into M. Richard's pocket." -And she added, under her voice, "There! It's out!...And may -the ghost forgive me!" - -Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmin authoritatively ordered -him to be silent. - -"Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me -question her." And he added: "It is really astonishing that you -should take up such a tone!...We are on the verge of clearing -up the whole mystery. And you're in a rage!...You're wrong -to behave like that. .. I'm enjoying myself immensely." - -Mme. Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face -beaming with faith in her own innocence. - -"You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope -which I put into M. Richard's pocket; but I tell you again that I -knew nothing about it... Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!" - -"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which -Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put -twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! -I am very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!" - -"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us -knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!" - -Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, -if Moncharmin had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. -He resumed his questions: - -"What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? -It was not the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box -Five before our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained -the twenty-thousand francs." - -"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave -me was the one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," -explained Mme. Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was -another envelope, just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand -and which I hid up my sleeve." - -So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared -and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs. -The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it -was fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. -They opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like -those which had so much astounded them the month before. - -"How simple!" said Richard. - -"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes -fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her. - -"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to -substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost -who told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?" - -"Yes, it was the ghost." - -"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? -Here is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing." - -"As you please, gentlemen." - -Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside -it and made for the door. She was on the point of going -out when the two managers rushed at her: - -"Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be `done' a second time! -Once bitten, twice shy!" - -"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse, -"you told me to act as though you knew nothing....Well, -if you knew nothing, I should go away with your envelope!" - -"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, -whom Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on -Mme. Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmin -was prepared to go to any length to discover the truth. - -"I am to slip it into your pocket when you least expect it, sir. -You know that I always take a little turn behind the scenes, -in the course of the evening, and I often go with my daughter -to the ballet-foyer, which I am entitled to do, as her mother; -I bring her her shoes, when the ballet is about to begin...in fact, -I come and go as I please....The subscribers come and go too. -... So do you, sir....There are lots of people about... -I go behind you and slip the envelope into the tail-pocket of your -dress-coat....There's no witchcraft about that!" - -"No witchcraft!" growled Richard, rolling his eyes like Jupiter Tonans. -"No witchcraft! Why, I've just caught you in a lie, you old witch!" - -Mme. Giry bristled, with her three teeth sticking out of her mouth. - -"And why, may I ask?" - -"Because I spent that evening watching Box Five and the sham envelope -which you put there. I did not go to the ballet-foyer for a second." - -"No, sir, and I did not give you the envelope that evening, but at -the next performance...on the evening when the under-secretary -of state for fine arts..." - -At these words, M. Richard suddenly interrupted Mme. Giry: - -"Yes, that's true, I remember now! The under-secretary went behind -the scenes. He asked for me. I went down to the ballet-foyer -for a moment. I was on the foyer steps....The under-secretary -and his chief clerk were in the foyer itself. I suddenly turned -around...you had passed behind me, Mme. Giry... You seemed -to push against me....Oh, I can see you still, I can see you still!" - -"Yes, that's it, sir, that's it. I had just finished my little business. -That pocket of yours, sir, is very handy!" - -And Mme. Giry once more suited the action to the word, She passed -behind M. Richard and, so nimbly that Moncharmin himself was impressed -by it, slipped the envelope into the pocket of one of the tails -of M. Richard's dress-coat. - -"Of course!" exclaimed Richard, looking a little pale. "It's very -clever of O. G. The problem which he had to solve was this: -how to do away with any dangerous intermediary between the man -who gives the twenty-thousand francs and the man who receives it. -And by far the best thing he could hit upon was to come and take -the money from my pocket without my noticing it, as I myself did not -know that it was there. It's wonderful!" - -"Oh, wonderful, no doubt!" Moncharmin agreed. "Only, you forget, -Richard, that I provided ten-thousand francs of the twenty -and that nobody put anything in my pocket!" - - - -Chapter XVII The Safety-Pin Again - - -Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which he -now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, -at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all -Moncharmin's wishes, with the object of helping him to discover -the miscreant who was victimizing them. - -This brings us to the interval after the Garden Act, with the strange -conduct observed by M. Remy and those curious lapses from the dignity -that might be expected of the managers. It was arranged between -Richard and Moncharmin, first, that Richard should repeat the exact -movements which he had made on the night of the disappearance -of the first twenty-thousand francs; and, second, that Moncharmin -should not for an instant lose sight of Richard's coat-tail pocket, -into which Mme. Giry was to slip the twenty-thousand francs. - -M. Richard went and placed himself at the identical spot where he -had stood when he bowed to the under-secretary for fine arts. -M. Moncharmin took up his position a few steps behind him. - -Mme. Giry passed, rubbed up against M. Richard, got rid of her -twenty-thousand francs in the manager's coat-tail pocket -and disappeared....Or rather she was conjured away. -In accordance with the instructions received from Moncharmin a few -minutes earlier, Mercier took the good lady to the acting-manager's -office and turned the key on her, thus making it impossible -for her to communicate with her ghost. - -Meanwhile, M. Richard was bending and bowing and scraping and -walking backward, just as if he had that high and mighty minister, -the under-secretary for fine arts, before him. Only, though these -marks of politeness would have created no astonishment if the -under-secretary of state had really been in front of M. Richard, -they caused an easily comprehensible amazement to the spectators -of this very natural but quite inexplicable scene when M. Richard -had no body in front of him. - -M. Richard bowed...to nobody; bent his back...before nobody; -and walked backward...before nobody....And, a few steps -behind him, M. Moncharmin did the same thing that he was doing -in addition to pushing away M. Remy and begging M. de La Borderie, -the ambassador, and the manager of the Credit Central "not to touch -M. le Directeur." - -Moncharmin, who had his own ideas, did not want Richard to come -to him presently, when the twenty-thousand francs were gone, -and say: - -"Perhaps it was the ambassador...or the manager of the Credit -Central...or Remy." - -The more so as, at the time of the first scene, -as Richard himself admitted, Richard had met nobody -in that part of the theater after Mme. Giry had brushed up against him. ... - -Having begun by walking backward in order to bow, Richard continued -to do so from prudence, until he reached the passage leading -to the offices of the management. In this way, he was constantly -watched by Moncharmin from behind and himself kept an eye on any -one approaching from the front. Once more, this novel method -of walking behind the scenes, adopted by the managers of our -National Academy of Music, attracted attention; but the managers -themselves thought of nothing but their twenty-thousand francs. - -On reaching the half-dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin, -in a low voice: - -"I am sure that nobody has touched me....You had now better -keep at some distance from me and watch me till I come to door -of the office: it is better not to arouse suspicion and we can -see anything that happens." - -But Moncharmin replied. "No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I'll -walk immediately behind you! I won't leave you by a step!" - -"But, in that case," exclaimed Richard, "they will never steal -our twenty-thousand francs!" - -"I should hope not, indeed!" declared Moncharmin. - -"Then what we are doing is absurd!" - -"We are doing exactly what we did last time....Last time, -I joined you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind -you down this passage." - -"That's true!" sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively -obeying Moncharmin. - -Two minutes later, the joint managers locked themselves into -their office. Moncharmin himself put the key in his pocket: - -"We remained locked up like this, last time," he said, "until you -left the Opera to go home." - -"That's so. No one came and disturbed us, I suppose?" - -"No one." - -"Then," said Richard, who was trying to collect his memory, "then I -must certainly have been robbed on my way home from the Opera." - -"No," said Moncharmin in a drier tone than ever, "no, that's impossible. -For I dropped you in my cab. The twenty-thousand francs disappeared -at your place: there's not a shadow of a doubt about that." - -"It's incredible!" protested Richard. "I am sure of my servants... -and if one of them had done it, he would have disappeared since." - -Moncharmin shrugged his shoulders, as though to say that he -did not wish to enter into details, and Richard began to think -that Moncharmin was treating him in a very insupportable fashion. - -"Moncharmin, I've had enough of this!" - -"Richard, I've had too much of it!" - -"Do you dare to suspect me?" - -"Yes, of a silly joke." - -"One doesn't joke with twenty-thousand francs." - -"That's what I think," declared Moncharmin, unfolding a newspaper -and ostentatiously studying its contents. - -"What are you doing?" asked Richard. "Are you going to read -the paper next?" - -"Yes, Richard, until I take you home." - -"Like last time?" - -"Yes, like last time." - -Richard snatched the paper from Moncharmin's hands. -Moncharmin stood up, more irritated than ever, and found himself -faced by an exasperated Richard, who, crossing his arms on his chest, said: - -"Look here, I'm thinking of this, I'M THINKING OF WHAT I MIGHT -THINK if, like last time, after my spending the evening alone -with you, you brought me home and if, at the moment of parting, -I perceived that twenty-thousand francs had disappeared from my -coat-pocket...like last time." - -"And what might you think?" asked Moncharmin, crimson with rage. - -"I might think that, as you hadn't left me by a foot's breadth -and as, by your own wish, you were the only one to approach me, -like last time, I might think that, if that twenty-thousand francs -was no longer in my pocket, it stood a very good chance of being -in yours!" - -Moncharmin leaped up at the suggestion. - -"Oh!" he shouted. "A safety-pin!" - -"What do you want a safety-pin for?" - -"To fasten you up with!...A safety-pin!...A safety-pin!" - -"You want to fasten me with a safety-pin?" - -"Yes, to fasten you to the twenty-thousand francs! Then, whether -it's here, or on the drive from here to your place, or at your place, -you will feel the hand that pulls at your pocket and you will -see if it's mine! Oh, so you're suspecting me now, are you? -A safety-pin!" - -And that was the moment when Moncharmin opened the door -on the passage and shouted: - -"A safety-pin!...somebody give me a safety-pin!" - -And we also know how, at the same moment, Remy, who had no safety-pin, -was received by Moncharmin, while a boy procured the pin so eagerly -longed for. And what happened was this: Moncharmin first locked -the door again. Then he knelt down behind Richard's back. - -"I hope," he said, "that the notes are still there?" - -"So do I," said Richard. - -"The real ones?" asked Moncharmin, resolved not to be "had" this time. - -"Look for yourself," said Richard. "I refuse to touch them." - -Moncharmin took the envelope from Richard's pocket and drew -out the bank-notes with a trembling hand, for, this time, -in order frequently to make sure of the presence of the notes, -he had not sealed the envelope nor even fastened it. He felt -reassured on finding that they were all there and quite genuine. -He put them back in the tail-pocket and pinned them with great care. -Then he sat down behind Richard's coat-tails and kept his eyes -fixed on them, while Richard, sitting at his writing-table, did -not stir. - -"A little patience, Richard," said Moncharmin. "We have only -a few minutes to wait....The clock will soon strike twelve. -Last time, we left at the last stroke of twelve." - -"Oh, I shall have all the patience necessary!" - -The time passed, slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling. Richard tried -to laugh. - -"I shall end by believing in the omnipotence of the ghost," he said. -"Just now, don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, -alarming in the atmosphere of this room?" - -"You're quite right," said Moncharmin, who was really impressed. - -"The ghost!" continued Richard, in a low voice, as though fearing lest -he should be overheard by invisible ears. "The ghost! Suppose, all -the same, it were a ghost who puts the magic envelopes on the table -... who talks in Box Five...who killed Joseph Buquet... -who unhooked the chandelier...and who robs us! For, after all, -after all, after all, there is no one here except you and me, -and, if the notes disappear and neither you nor I have anything to -do with it, well, we shall have to believe in the ghost...in the ghost." - -At that moment, the clock on the mantlepiece gave its warning click -and the first stroke of twelve struck. - -The two managers shuddered. The perspiration streamed from -their foreheads. The twelfth stroke sounded strangely in their ears. - -When the clock stopped, they gave a sigh and rose from their chairs. - -"I think we can go now," said Moncharmin. - -"I think so," Richard a agreed. - -"Before we go, do you mind if I look in your pocket?" - -"But, of course, Moncharmin, YOU MUST!...Well?" he asked, -as Moncharmin was feeling at the pocket. - -"Well, I can feel the pin." - -"Of course, as you said, we can't be robbed without noticing it." - -But Moncharmin, whose hands were still fumbling, bellowed: - -"I can feel the pin, but I can't feel the notes!" - -"Come, no joking, Moncharmin!...This isn't the time for it." - -"Well, feel for yourself." - -Richard tore off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket -inside out. THE POCKET WAS EMPTY. And the curious thing was -that the pin remained, stuck in the same place. - -Richard and Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt -about the witchcraft. - -"The ghost!" muttered Moncharmin. - -But Richard suddenly sprang upon his partner. - -"No one but you has touched my pocket! Give me back my twenty-thousand -francs!...Give me back my twenty-thousand francs!..." - -"On my soul," sighed Moncharmin, who was ready to swoon, "on my soul, -I swear that I haven't got it!" - -Then somebody knocked at the door. Moncharmin opened it automatically, -seemed hardly to recognize Mercier, his business-manager, exchanged -a few words with him, without knowing what he was saying and, -with an unconscious movement, put the safety-pin, for which he -had no further use, into the hands of his bewildered subordinate.... - - - -Chapter XVIII The Commissary, The Viscount and the Persian - - -The first words of the commissary of police, on entering -the managers' office, were to ask after the missing prima donna. - -"Is Christine Daae here?" - -"Christine Daae here?" echoed Richard. "No. Why?" - -As for Moncharmin, he had not the strength left to utter a word. - -Richard repeated, for the commissary and the compact crowd which -had followed him into the office observed an impressive silence. - -"Why do you ask if Christine Daae is here, M. LE COMMISSAIRE?" - -"Because she has to be found," declared the commissary of police solemnly. - -"What do you mean, she has to be found? Has she disappeared?" - -"In the middle of the performance!" - -"In the middle of the performance? This is extraordinary!" - -"Isn't it? And what is quite as extraordinary is that you should -first learn it from me!" - -"Yes," said Richard, taking his head in his hands and muttering. -"What is this new business? Oh, it's enough to make a man send in -his resignation!" - -And he pulled a few hairs out of his mustache without even knowing -what he was doing. - -"So she...so she disappeared in the middle of the performance?" -he repeated. - -"Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act, at the moment when she -was invoking the aid of the angels; but I doubt if she was carried -off by an angel." - -"And I am sure that she was!" - -Everybody looked round. A young man, pale and trembling -with excitement, repeated: - -"I am sure of it!" - -"Sure of what?" asked Mifroid. - -"That Christine Daae was carried off by an angel, M. LE COMMISSAIRE -and I can tell you his name." - -"Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae -was carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?" - -"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you -where he lives...when we are alone." - -"You are right, monsieur." - -And the commissary of police, inviting Raoul to take a chair, -cleared the room of all the rest, excepting the managers. - -Then Raoul spoke: - -"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera -and he is the Angel of Music!" - -"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious!...The -Angel of Music!" And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, -"Have you an Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?" - -Richard and Moncharmin shook their heads, without even speaking. - -"Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera ghost. -Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the Angel -of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik." - -M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively. - -"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun -of the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?" - -"I say that these gentlemen have heard of him." - -"Gentlemen, it appears that you know the Opera ghost?" - -Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand. - -"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did, -for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!" - -And Richard turned a terrible look on Moncharmin, which seemed -to say: - -"Give me back the twenty-thousand francs, or I'll tell the whole story." - -Moncharmin understood what he meant, for, with a distracted gesture, -he said: - -"Oh, tell everything and have done with it!" - -As for Mifroid, he looked at the managers and at Raoul by turns -and wondered whether he had strayed into a lunatic asylum. -He passed his hand through his hair. - -"A ghost," he said, "who, on the same evening, carries off -an opera-singer and steals twenty-thousand francs is a ghost who -must have his hands very full! If you don't mind, we will take -the questions in order. The singer first, the twenty-thousand -francs after. Come, M. de Chagny, let us try to talk seriously. -You believe that Mlle. Christine Daae has been carried off by an -individual called Erik. Do you know this person? Have you seen him?" - -"Yes." - -"Where?" - -"In a church yard." - -M. Mifroid gave a start, began to scrutinize Raoul again and said: - -"Of course!...That's where ghosts usually hang out!...And -what were you doing in that churchyard?" - -"Monsieur," said Raoul, "I can quite understand how absurd my replies -must seem to you. But I beg you to believe that I am in full -possession of my faculties. The safety of the person dearest -to me in the world is at stake. I should like to convince you -in a few words, for time is pressing and every minute is valuable. -Unfortunately, if I do not tell you the strangest story that ever -was from the beginning, you will not believe me. I will tell you all -I know about the Opera ghost, M. Commissary. Alas, I do not know much!..." - -"Never mind, go on, go on!" exclaimed Richard and Moncharmin, -suddenly greatly interested. - -Unfortunately for their hopes of learning some detail that could put -them on the track of their hoaxer, they were soon compelled to accept -the fact that M. Raoul de Chagny had completely lost his head. -All that story about Perros-Guirec, death's heads and enchanted violins, -could only have taken birth in the disordered brain of a youth -mad with love. It was evident, also, that Mr. Commissary Mifroid -shared their view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut -short the incoherent narrative if circumstances had not taken -it upon themselves to interrupt it. - -The door opened and a man entered, curiously dressed in an enormous -frock-coat and a tall hat, at once shabby and shiny, that came down to -his ears. He went up to the commissary and spoke to him in a whisper. -It was doubtless a detective come to deliver an important communication. - -During this conversation, M. Mifroid did not take his eyes off Raoul. -At last, addressing him, he said: - -"Monsieur, we have talked enough about the ghost. We will -now talk about yourself a little, if you have no objection: -you were to carry off Mlle. Christine Daae to-night?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"After the performance?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"All your arrangements were made?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"The carriage that brought you was to take you both away. -... There were fresh horses in readiness at every stage. -..." - -"That is true, M. le Commissaire." - -"And nevertheless your carriage is still outside the Rotunda -awaiting your orders, is it not?" - -"Yes, M. le Commissaire." - -"Did you know that there were three other carriages there, -in addition to yours?" - -"I did not pay the least attention." - -"They were the carriages of Mlle. Sorelli, which could not find room -in the Cour de l'Administration; of Carlotta; and of your brother, -M. le Comte de Chagny. ..." - -"Very likely. ..." - -"What is certain is that, though your carriage and Sorelli's -and Carlotta's are still there, by the Rotunda pavement, M. le -Comte de Chagny's carriage is gone." - -"This has nothing to say to..." - -"I beg your pardon. Was not M. le Comte opposed to your marriage -with Mlle. Daae?" - -"That is a matter that only concerns the family." - -"You have answered my question: he was opposed to it...and that -was why you were carrying Christine Daae out of your brother's reach. -... Well, M. de Chagny, allow me to inform you that your brother has -been smarter than you! It is he who has carried off Christine Daae!" - -"Oh, impossible!" moaned Raoul, pressing his hand to his heart. -"Are you sure?" - -"Immediately after the artist's disappearance, which was procured -by means which we have still to ascertain, he flung into his carriage, -which drove right across Paris at a furious pace." - -"Across Paris?" asked poor Raoul, in a hoarse voice. "What do you -mean by across Paris?" - -"Across Paris and out of Paris...by the Brussels road." - -"Oh," cried the young man, "I shall catch them!" And he rushed -out of the office. - -"And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily...."Ah, -that's a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!" - -And, turning to his audience, M. Mifroid delivered a little lecture -on police methods. - -"I don't know for a moment whether M. le Comte de Chagny has really -carried Christine Daae off or not...but I want to know and I -believe that, at this moment, no one is more anxious to inform us -than his brother....And now he is flying in pursuit of him! -He is my chief auxiliary! This, gentlemen, is the art of the police, -which is believed to be so complicated and which, nevertheless appears -so simple as soon its you see that it consists in getting your work -done by people who have nothing to do with the police." - -But M. le Commissaire de Police Mifroid would not have been quite -so satisfied with himself if he had known that the rush of his rapid -emissary was stopped at the entrance to the very first corridor. -A tall figure blocked Raoul's way. - -"Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice. - -Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap -of an hour ago. He stopped: - -"It's you!" he cried, in a feverish voice. "You, who know Erik's -secrets and don't want me to speak of them. Who are you?" - -"You know who I am!...I am the Persian!" - - - -Chapter XIX The Viscount and the Persian - - -Raoul now remembered that his brother had once shown him that -mysterious person, of whom nothing was known except that he was a Persian -and that he lived in a little old-fashioned flat in the Rue de Rivoli. - -The man with the ebony skin, the eyes of jade and the astrakhan -cap bent over Raoul. - -"I hope, M. de Chagny," he said, "that you have not betrayed -Erik's secret?" - -"And why should I hesitate to betray that monster, sir?" -Raoul rejoined haughtily, trying to shake off the intruder. -"Is he your friend, by any chance?" - -"I hope that you said nothing about Erik, sir, because Erik's -secret is also Christine Daae's and to talk about one is to talk -about the other!" - -"Oh, sir," said Raoul, becoming more and more impatient, "you seem -to know about many things that interest me; and yet I have no time -to listen to you!" - -"Once more, M. de Chagny, where are you going so fast?" - -"Can not you guess? To Christine Daae's assistance. ..." - -"Then, sir, stay here, for Christine Daae is here!" - -"With Erik?" - -"With Erik." - -"How do you know?" - -"I was at the performance and no one in the world but Erik could -contrive an abduction like that!...Oh," he said, with a deep sigh, -"I recognized the monster's touch!..." - -"You know him then?" - -The Persian did not reply, but heaved a fresh sigh. - -"Sir," said Raoul, "I do not know what your intentions are, but can -you do anything to help me? I mean, to help Christine Daae?" - -"I think so, M. de Chagny, and that is why I spoke to you." - -"What can you do?" - -"Try to take you to her...and to him." - -"If you can do me that service, sir, my life is yours!...One -word more: the commissary of police tells me that Christine Daae -has been carried off by my brother, Count Philippe." - -"Oh, M. de Chagny, I don't believe a word of it." - -"It's not possible, is it?" - -"I don't know if it is possible or not; but there are ways and -ways of carrying people off; and M. le Comte Philippe has never, -as far as I know, had anything to do with witchcraft." - -"Your arguments are convincing, sir, and I am a fool!...Oh, -let us make haste! I place myself entirely in your hands!... -How should I not believe you, when you are the only one to believe -me...when you are the only one not to smile when Erik's name -is mentioned?" - -And the young man impetuously seized the Persian's hands. -They were ice-cold. - -"Silence!" said the Persian, stopping and listening to the distant -sounds of the theater. "We must not mention that name here. -Let us say `he' and `him;' then there will be less danger of attracting -his attention." - -"Do you think he is near us?" - -"It is quite possible, Sir, if he is not, at this moment, -with his victim, IN THE HOUSE ON THE LAKE." - -"Ah, so you know that house too?" - -"If he is not there, he may be here, in this wall, in this floor, -in this ceiling!...Come!" - -And the Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of his footsteps, -led him down passages which Raoul had never seen before, even at the -time when Christine used to take him for walks through that labyrinth. - -"If only Darius has come!" said the Persian. - -"Who is Darius?" - -"Darius? My servant." - -They were now in the center of a real deserted square, an immense -apartment ill-lit by a small lamp. The Persian stopped Raoul and, -in the softest of whispers, asked: - -"What did you say to the commissary?" - -"I said that Christine Daae's abductor was the Angel of Music, -ALIAS the Opera ghost, and that the real name was..." - -"Hush!...And did he believe you?" - -"No." - -"He attached no importance to what you said?" - -"No." - -"He took you for a bit of a madman?" - -"Yes." - -"So much the better!" sighed the Persian. - -And they continued their road. After going up and down several -staircases which Raoul had never seen before, the two men -found themselves in front of a door which the Persian opened -with a master-key. The Persian and Raoul were both, of course, -in dress-clothes; but, whereas Raoul had a tall hat, the Persian -wore the astrakhan cap which I have already mentioned. It was -an infringement of the rule which insists upon the tall hat behind -the scenes; but in France foreigners are allowed every license: -the Englishman his traveling-cap, the Persian his cap of astrakhan. - -"Sir," said the Persian, "your tall hat will be in your way: -you would do well to leave it in the dressing-room." - -"What dressing-room?" asked Raoul. - -"Christine Daae's." - -And the Persian, letting Raoul through the door which he -had just opened, showed him the actress' room opposite. -They were at the end of the passage the whole length of which Raoul -had been accustomed to traverse before knocking at Christine's door. - -"How well you know the Opera, sir!" - -"Not so well as `he' does!" said the Persian modestly. - -And he pushed the young man into Christine's dressing-room, -which was as Raoul had left it a few minutes earlier. - -Closing the door, the Persian went to a very thin partition that -separated the dressing-room from a big lumber-room next to it. -He listened and then coughed loudly. - -There was a sound of some one stirring in the lumber-room; and, a few -seconds later, a finger tapped at the door. - -"Come in," said the Persian. - -A man entered, also wearing an astrakhan cap and dressed in a long -overcoat. He bowed and took a richly carved case from under his coat, -put it on the dressing-table, bowed once again and went to the door. - -"Did no one see you come in, Darius?" - -"No, master." - -"Let no one see you go out." - -The servant glanced down the passage and swiftly disappeared. - -The Persian opened the case. It contained a pair of long pistols. - -"When Christine Daae was carried off, sir, I sent word to my servant -to bring me these pistols. I have had them a long time and they -can be relied upon." - -"Do you mean to fight a duel?" asked the young man. - -"It will certainly be a duel which we shall have to fight," -said the other, examining the priming of his pistols. "And what a duel!" -Handing one of the pistols to Raoul, he added, "In this duel, -we shall be two to one; but you must be prepared for everything, -for we shall be fighting the most terrible adversary that you -can imagine. But you love Christine Daae, do you not?" - -"I worship the ground she stands on! But you, sir, who do not -love her, tell me why I find you ready to risk your life for her! -You must certainly hate Erik!" - -"No, sir," said the Persian sadly, "I do not hate him. If I hated him, -he would long ago have ceased doing harm." - -"Has he done you harm?" - -"I have forgiven him the harm which he has done me." - -"I do not understand you. You treat him as a monster, you speak -of his crime, he has done you harm and I find in you the same -inexplicable pity that drove me to despair when I saw it in Christine!" - -The Persian did not reply. He fetched a stool and set it -against the wall facing the great mirror that filled the whole -of the wall-space opposite. Then he climbed on the stool and, -with his nose to the wallpaper, seemed to be looking for something. - -"Ah," he said, after a long search, "I have it!" And, raising his -finger above his head, he pressed against a corner in the pattern -of the paper. Then he turned round and jumped off the stool: - -"In half a minute," he said, "he shall be ON HIS ROAD!" and crossing -the whole of the dressing-room he felt the great mirror. - -"No, it is not yielding yet," he muttered. - -"Oh, are we going out by the mirror?" asked Raoul. "Like Christine Daae." - -"So you knew that Christine Daae went out by that mirror?" - -"She did so before my eyes, sir! I was hidden behind the curtain -of the inner room and I saw her vanish not by the glass, but in -the glass!" - -"And what did you do?" - -"I thought it was an aberration of my senses, a mad dream. - -"Or some new fancy of the ghost's!" chuckled the Persian. -"Ah, M. de Chagny," he continued, still with his hand on the mirror, -"would that we had to do with a ghost! We could then leave our pistols -in their case....Put down your hat, please...there... -and now cover your shirt-front as much as you can with your coat... -as I am doing....Bring the lapels forward...turn up -the collar....We must make ourselves as invisible as possible." - -Bearing against the mirror, after a short silence, he said: - -"It takes some time to release the counterbalance, when you press -on the spring from the inside of the room. It is different when you -are behind the wall and can act directly on the counterbalance. -Then the mirror turns at once and is moved with incredible rapidity." - -"What counterbalance?" asked Raoul. - -"Why, the counterbalance that lifts the whole of this wall on -to its pivot. You surely don't expect it to move of itself, -by enchantment! If you watch, you will see the mirror first rise -an inch or two and then shift an inch or two from left to right. -It will then be on a pivot and will swing round." - -"It's not turning!" said Raoul impatiently. - -"Oh, wait! You have time enough to be impatient, sir! The mechanism -has obviously become rusty, or else the spring isn't working. -...Unless it is something else," added the Persian, anxiously. - -"What?" - -"He may simply have cut the cord of the counterbalance and blocked -the whole apparatus." - -"Why should he? He does not know that we are coming this way!" - -"I dare say he suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system." - -"It's not turning!...And Christine, sir, Christine?" - -The Persian said coldly: - -"We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do!...But -he may stop us at the first step!...He commands the walls, -the doors and the trapdoors. In my country, he was known by a name -which means the `trap-door lover.'" - -"But why do these walls obey him alone? He did not build them!" - -"Yes, sir, that is just what he did!" - -Raoul looked at him in amazement; but the Persian made a sign to him -to be silent and pointed to the glass....There was a sort -of shivering reflection. Their image was troubled as in a rippling -sheet of water and then all became stationary again. - -"You see, sir, that it is not turning! Let us take another road!" - -"To-night, there is no other!" declared the Persian, in a singularly -mournful voice. "And now, look out! And be ready to fire." - -He himself raised his pistol opposite the glass. Raoul imitated -his movement. With his free arm, the Persian drew the young man -to his chest and, suddenly, the mirror turned, in a blinding daze -of cross-lights: it turned like one of those revolving doors -which have lately been fixed to the entrances of most restaurants, -it turned, carrying Raoul and the Persian with it and suddenly -hurling them from the full light into the deepest darkness. - - - -Chapter XX In the Cellars of the Opera - - -"Your hand high, ready to fire!" repeated Raoul's companion quickly. - -The wall, behind them, having completed the circle which it -described upon itself, closed again; and the two men stood -motionless for a moment, holding their breath. - -At last, the Persian decided to make a movement; and Raoul heard -him slip on his knees and feel for something in the dark with his -groping hands. Suddenly, the darkness was made visible by a small dark -lantern and Raoul instinctively stepped backward as though to escape -the scrutiny of a secret enemy. But he soon perceived that the light -belonged to the Persian, whose movements he was closely observing. -The little red disk was turned in every direction and Raoul -saw that the floor, the walls and the ceiling were all formed -of planking. It must have been the ordinary road taken by Erik -to reach Christine's dressing-room and impose upon her innocence. -And Raoul, remembering the Persian's remark, thought that it had been -mysteriously constructed by the ghost himself. Later, he learned -that Erik had found, all prepared for him, a secret passage, -long known to himself alone and contrived at the time of the Paris -Commune to allow the jailers to convey their prisoners straight -to the dungeons that had been constructed for them in the cellars; -for the Federates had occupied the opera-house immediately after -the eighteenth of March and had made a starting-place right at -the top for their Mongolfier balloons, which carried their incendiary -proclamations to the departments, and a state prison right at the bottom. - -The Persian went on his knees and put his lantern on the ground. -He seemed to be working at the floor; and suddenly he turned off -his light. Then Raoul heard a faint click and saw a very pale -luminous square in the floor of the passage. It was as though -a window had opened on the Opera cellars, which were still lit. -Raoul no longer saw the Persian, but he suddenly felt him by his side -and heard him whisper: - -"Follow me and do all that I do." - -Raoul turned to the luminous aperture. Then he saw the Persian, -who was still on his knees, hang by his hands from the rim of the opening, -with his pistol between his teeth, and slide into the cellar below. - -Curiously enough, the viscount had absolute confidence in the Persian, -though he knew nothing about him. His emotion when speaking of the -"monster" struck him as sincere; and, if the Persian had cherished -any sinister designs against him, he would not have armed him with -his own hands. Besides, Raoul must reach Christine at all costs. -He therefore went on his knees also and hung from the trap with both hands. - -"Let go!" said a voice. - -And he dropped into the arms of the Persian, who told him to lie -down flat, closed the trap-door above him and crouched down beside him. -Raoul tried to ask a question, but the Persian's hand was on his mouth -and he heard a voice which he recognized as that of the commissary -of police. - -Raoul and the Persian were completely hidden behind a wooden partition. -Near them, a small staircase led to a little room in which the -commissary appeared to be walking up and down, asking questions. -The faint light was just enough to enable Raoul to distinguish the -shape of things around him. And he could not restrain a dull cry: -there were three corpses there. - -The first lay on the narrow landing of the little staircase; -the two others had rolled to the bottom of the staircase. -Raoul could have touched one of the two poor wretches by passing -his fingers through the partition. - -"Silence!" whispered the Persian. - -He too had seen the bodies and he gave one word in explanation: - -"HE!" - -The commissary's voice was now heard more distinctly. -He was asking for information about the system of lighting, -which the stage-manager supplied. The commissary therefore -must be in the "organ" or its immediate neighborhood. - -Contrary to what one might think, especially in connection with an -opera-house, the "organ" is not a musical instrument. At that time, -electricity was employed only for a very few scenic effects and for -the bells. The immense building and the stage itself were still -lit by gas; hydrogen was used to regulate and modify the lighting -of a scene; and this was done by means of a special apparatus which, -because of the multiplicity of its pipes, was known as the "organ." -A box beside the prompter's box was reserved for the chief gas-man, -who from there gave his orders to his assistants and saw that they -were executed. Mauclair stayed in this box during all the performances. - -But now Mauclair was not in his box and his assistants not -in their places. - -"Mauclair! Mauclair!" - -The stage-manager's voice echoed through the cellars. But Mauclair -did not reply. - -I have said that a door opened on a little staircase that led -to the second cellar. The commissary pushed it, but it resisted. - -"I say," he said to the stage-manager, "I can't open this door: -is it always so difficult?" - -The stage-manager forced it open with his shoulder. He saw that, -at the same time, he was pushing a human body and he could not keep -back an exclamation, for he recognized the body at once: - -"Mauclair! Poor devil! He is dead!" - -But Mr. Commissary Mifroid, whom nothing surprised, was stooping -over that big body. - -"No," he said, "he is dead-drunk, which is not quite the same thing." - -"It's the first time, if so," said the stage-manager - -"Then some one has given him a narcotic. That is quite possible." - -Mifroid went down a few steps and said: - -"Look!" - -By the light of a little red lantern, at the foot of the stairs, -they saw two other bodies. The stage-manager recognized Mauclair's -assistants. Mifroid went down and listened to their breathing. - -"They are sound asleep," he said. "Very curious business! -Some person unknown must have interfered with the gas-man and his -staff...and that person unknown was obviously working on behalf -of the kidnapper....But what a funny idea to kidnap a performer -on the stage!...Send for the doctor of the theater, please." -And Mifroid repeated, "Curious, decidedly curious business!" - -Then he turned to the little room, addressing the people whom Raoul -and the Persian were unable to see from where they lay. - -"What do you say to all this, gentlemen? You are the only ones -who have not given your views. And yet you must have an opinion -of some sort." - -Thereupon, Raoul and the Persian saw the startled faces of the joint -managers appear above the landing--and they heard Moncharmin's -excited voice: - -"There are things happening here, Mr. Commissary, which we are -unable to explain." - -And the two faces disappeared. - -"Thank you for the information, gentlemen," said Mifroid, with a jeer. - -But the stage-manager, holding his chin in the hollow of his -right hand, which is the attitude of profound thought, said: - -"It is not the first time that Mauclair has fallen asleep in the theater. -I remember finding him, one evening, snoring in his little recess, -with his snuff-box beside him." - -"Is that long ago?" asked M. Mifroid, carefully wiping his eye-glasses. - -"No, not so very long ago....Wait a bit!...It was the night -... of course, yes...It was the night when Carlotta--you know, -Mr. Commissary--gave her famous `co-ack'!" - -"Really? The night when Carlotta gave her famous `co-ack'?" - -And M. Mifroid, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose, -fixed the stage-manager with a contemplative stare. - -"So Mauclair takes snuff, does he?" he asked carelessly. - -"`Yes, Mr. Commissary....Look, there is his snuff-box -on that little shelf....Oh! he's a great snuff-taker!" - -"So am I," said Mifroid and put the snuff-box in his pocket. - -Raoul and the Persian, themselves unobserved, watched the removal -of the three bodies by a number of scene-shifters, who were -followed by the commissary and all the people with him. -Their steps were heard for a few minutes on the stage above. -When they were alone the Persian made a sign to Raoul to stand up. -Raoul did so; but, as he did not lift his hand in front of his eyes, -ready to fire, the Persian told him to resume that attitude and to -continue it, whatever happened. - -"But it tires the hand unnecessarily," whispered Raoul. "If I -do fire, I shan't be sure of my aim." - -"Then shift your pistol to the other hand," said the Persian. - -"I can't shoot with my left hand." - -Thereupon, the Persian made this queer reply, which was certainly -not calculated to throw light into the young man's flurried brain: - -"It's not a question of shooting with the right hand or the left; -it's a question of holding one of your hands as though you -were going to pull the trigger of a pistol with your arm bent. -As for the pistol itself, when all is said, you can put that in -your pocket!" And he added, "Let this be clearly understood, -or I will answer for nothing. It is a matter of life and death. -And now, silence and follow me!" - -The cellars of the Opera are enormous and they are five in number. -Raoul followed the Persian and wondered what he would have done -without his companion in that extraordinary labyrinth. They went -down to the third cellar; and their progress was still lit by some -distant lamp. - -The lower they went, the more precautions the Persian seemed to take. -He kept on turning to Raoul to see if he was holding his arm properly, -showing him how he himself carried his hand as if always ready to fire, -though the pistol was in his pocket. - -Suddenly, a loud voice made them stop. Some one above them shouted: - -"All the door-shutters on the stage! The commissary of police -wants them!" - -Steps were heard and shadows glided through the darkness. The Persian -drew Raoul behind a set piece. They saw passing before and above -them old men bent by age and the past burden of opera-scenery. -Some could hardly drag themselves along; others, from habit, -with stooping bodies and outstretched hands, looked for doors to shut. - -They were the door-shutters, the old, worn-out scene-shifters, on -whom a charitable management had taken pity, giving them the job -of shutting doors above and below the stage. They went about -incessantly, from top to bottom of the building, shutting the doors; -and they were also called "The draft-expellers," at least at -that time, for I have little doubt that by now they are all dead. -Drafts are very bad for the voice, wherever they may come from.[3] - ----- -[3] M. Pedro Gailhard has himself told me that he created a few -additional posts as door-shutters for old stage-carpenters whom -he was unwilling to dismiss from the service of the Opera. - -The two men might have stumbled over them, waking them up and -provoking a request for explanations. For the moment, M. Mifroid's -inquiry saved them from any such unpleasant encounters. - -The Persian and Raoul welcomed this incident, which relieved them -of inconvenient witnesses, for some of those door-shutters, having -nothing else to do or nowhere to lay their heads, stayed at the Opera, -from idleness or necessity, and spent the night there. - -But they were not left to enjoy their solitude for long. Other shades -now came down by the same way by which the door-shutters had gone up. -Each of these shades carried a little lantern and moved it about, -above, below and all around, as though looking for something or somebody. - -"Hang it!" muttered the Persian. "I don't know what they are -looking for, but they might easily find us....Let us get away, -quick!...Your hand up, sir, ready to fire!...Bend your arm -... more...that's it!...Hand at the level of your eye, -as though you were fighting a duel and waiting for the word -to fire! Oh, leave your pistol in your pocket. Quick, come along, -down-stairs. Level of your eye! Question of life or death!... -Here, this way, these stairs!" They reached the fifth cellar. -"Oh, what a duel, sir, what a duel!" - -Once in the fifth cellar, the Persian drew breath. He seemed -to enjoy a rather greater sense of security than he had displayed -when they both stopped in the third; but he never altered the attitude -of his hand. And Raoul, remembering the Persian's observation--"I -know these pistols can be relied upon"--was more and more astonished, -wondering why any one should be so gratified at being able to rely -upon a pistol which he did not intend to use! - -But the Persian left him no time for reflection. Telling Raoul -to stay where he was, he ran up a few steps of the staircase -which they had just left and then returned. - -"How stupid of us!" he whispered. "We shall soon have seen the end -of those men with their lanterns. It is the firemen going their -rounds."[4] - ----- -[4] In those days, it was still part of the firemen's duty to watch -over the safety of the Opera house outside the performances; -but this service has since been suppressed. I asked M. Pedro -Gailhard the reason, and he replied: -"It was because the management was afraid that, in their utter -inexperience of the cellars of the Opera, the firemen might set -fire to the building!" - - -The two men waited five minutes longer. Then the Persian took Raoul -up the stairs again; but suddenly he stopped him with a gesture. -Something moved in the darkness before them. - -"Flat on your stomach!" whispered the Persian. - -The two men lay flat on the floor. - -They were only just in time. A shade, this time carrying no light, -just a shade in the shade, passed. It passed close to them, -near enough to touch them. - -They felt the warmth of its cloak upon them. For they could -distinguish the shade sufficiently to see that it wore a cloak which -shrouded it from head to foot. On its head it had a soft felt hat.... - -It moved away, drawing its feet against the walls and sometimes -giving a kick into a corner. - -"Whew!" said the Persian. "We've had a narrow escape; that shade -knows me and has twice taken me to the managers' office." - -"Is it some one belonging to the theater police?" asked Raoul. - -"It's some one much worse than that!" replied the Persian, -without giving any further explanation.[5] - ----- -[5] Like the Persian, I can give no further explanation touching -the apparition of this shade. Whereas, in this historic narrative, -everything else will be normally explained, however abnormal -the course of events may seem, I can not give the reader expressly -to understand what the Persian meant by the words, "It is some one -much worse than that!" The reader must try to guess for himself, -for I promised M. Pedro Gailhard, the former manager of the Opera, -to keep his secret regarding the extremely interesting and useful -personality of the wandering, cloaked shade which, while condemning -itself to live in the cellars of the Opera, rendered such immense -services to those who, on gala evenings, for instance, venture to stray -away from the stage. I am speaking of state services; and, upon my -word of honor, I can say no more. - -"It's not...he?" - -"He?...If he does not come behind us, we shall always see his -yellow eyes! That is more or less our safeguard to-night. But he -may come from behind, stealing up; and we are dead men if we do not -keep our hands as though about to fire, at the level of our eyes, -in front!" - -The Persian had hardly finished speaking, when a fantastic face -came in sight...a whole fiery face, not only two yellow eyes! - -Yes, a head of fire came toward them, at a man's height, but with no -body attached to it. The face shed fire, looked in the darkness -like a flame shaped as a man's face. - -"Oh," said the Persian, between his teeth. "I have never seen this -before!...Pampin was not mad, after all: he had seen it!... -What can that flame be? It is not HE, but he may have sent it! -...Take care!...Take care! Your hand at the level of your eyes, -in Heaven's name, at the level of your eyes!...know most of his tricks... -but not this one....Come, let us run....it is safer. -Hand at the level of your eyes!" - -And they fled down the long passage that opened before them. - -After a few seconds, that seemed to them like long minutes, -they stopped. - -"He doesn't often come this way," said the Persian. "This side -has nothing to do with him. This side does not lead to the lake -nor to the house on the lake....But perhaps he knows that we -are at his heels...although I promised him to leave him alone -and never to meddle in his business again!" - -So saying, he turned his head and Raoul also turned his head; -and they again saw the head of fire behind their two heads. -It had followed them. And it must have run also, and perhaps faster -than they, for it seemed to be nearer to them. - -At the same time, they began to perceive a certain noise of which they -could not guess the nature. They simply noticed that the sound -seemed to move and to approach with the fiery face. It was a noise -as though thousands of nails had been scraped against a blackboard, -the perfectly unendurable noise that is sometimes made by a little -stone inside the chalk that grates on the blackboard. - -They continued to retreat, but the fiery face came on, came on, -gaining on them. They could see its features clearly now. The eyes -were round and staring, the nose a little crooked and the mouth large, -with a hanging lower lip, very like the eyes, nose and lip of the moon, -when the moon is quite red, bright red. - -How did that red moon manage to glide through the darkness, -at a man's height, with nothing to support it, at least apparently? -And how did it go so fast, so straight ahead, with such staring, -staring eyes? And what was that scratching, scraping, grating sound -which it brought with it? - -The Persian and Raoul could retreat no farther and flattened -themselves against the wall, not knowing what was going to happen -because of that incomprehensible head of fire, and especially now, -because of the more intense, swarming, living, "numerous" sound, -for the sound was certainly made up of hundreds of little sounds -that moved in the darkness, under the fiery face. - -And the fiery face came on...with its noise...came level -with them!... - -And the two companions, flat against their wall, felt their hair -stand on end with horror, for they now knew what the thousand -noises meant. They came in a troop, hustled along in the shadow -by innumerable little hurried waves, swifter than the waves -that rush over the sands at high tide, little night-waves foaming -under the moon, under the fiery head that was like a moon. -And the little waves passed between their legs, climbing up -their legs, irresistibly, and Raoul and the Persian could no -longer restrain their cries of horror, dismay and pain. Nor could -they continue to hold their hands at the level of their eyes: -their hands went down to their legs to push back the waves, -which were full of little legs and nails and claws and teeth. - -Yes, Raoul and the Persian were ready to faint, like Pampin the fireman. -But the head of fire turned round in answer to their cries, -and spoke to them: - -"Don't move! Don't move!...Whatever you do, don't come after me! -... I am the rat-catcher!...Let me pass, with my rats!..." - -And the head of fire disappeared, vanished in the darkness, -while the passage in front of it lit up, as the result of the change -which the rat-catcher had made in his dark lantern. Before, so as not -to scare the rats in front of him, he had turned his dark lantern -on himself, lighting up his own head; now, to hasten their flight, -he lit the dark space in front of him. And he jumped along, -dragging with him the waves of scratching rats, all the thousand sounds. - -Raoul and the Persian breathed again, though still trembling. - -"I ought to have remembered that Erik talked to me about the rat-catcher," -said the Persian. "But he never told me that he looked like that... -and it's funny that I should never have met him before.... -Of course, Erik never comes to this part!" - -{two page color illustration} - -"Are we very far from the lake, sir?" asked Raoul. "When shall we -get there?...Take me to the lake, oh, take me to the lake!... -When we are at the lake, we will call out!...Christine will -hear us!...And HE will hear us, too!...And, as you know him, -we shall talk to him!" "Baby!" said the Persian. "We shall never -enter the house on the lake by the lake!...I myself have never -landed on the other bank...the bank on which the house stands. -...You have to cross the lake first...and it is well guarded! -...I fear that more than one of those men--old scene-shifters, -old door-shutters--who have never been seen again were simply tempted -to cross the lake....It is terrible....I myself would have -been nearly killed there...if the monster had not recognized me -in time!...One piece of advice, sir; never go near the lake. -...And, above all, shut your ears if you hear the voice singing -under the water, the siren's voice!" - -"But then, what are we here for?" asked Raoul, in a transport of fever, -impatience and rage. "If you can do nothing for Christine, at least -let me die for her!" The Persian tried to calm the young man. - -"We have only one means of saving Christine Daae, believe me, -which is to enter the house unperceived by the monster." - -"And is there any hope of that, sir?" - -"Ah, if I had not that hope, I would not have come to fetch you!" - -"And how can one enter the house on the lake without crossing -the lake?" - -"From the third cellar, from which we were so unluckily driven away. -We will go back there now....I will tell you," said the Persian, -with a sudden change in his voice, "I will tell you the exact -place, sir: it is between a set piece and a discarded scene from -ROI DE LAHORE, exactly at the spot where Joseph Buquet died. -... Come, sir, take courage and follow me! And hold your hand -at the level of your eyes!...But where are we?" - -The Persian lit his lamp again and flung its rays down two enormous -corridors that crossed each other at right angles. - -"We must be," he said, "in the part used more particularly -for the waterworks. I see no fire coming from the furnaces." - -He went in front of Raoul, seeking his road, stopping abruptly -when he was afraid of meeting some waterman. Then they had to -protect themselves against the glow of a sort of underground forge, -which the men were extinguishing, and at which Raoul recognized -the demons whom Christine had seen at the time of her first captivity. - -In this way, they gradually arrived beneath the huge cellars below -the stage. They must at this time have been at the very bottom -of the "tub" and at an extremely great depth, when we remember -that the earth was dug out at fifty feet below the water that lay -under the whole of that part of Paris.[6] - ----- -[6] All the water had to be exhausted, in the building of the Opera. -To give an idea of the amount of water that was pumped up, I can -tell the reader that it represented the area of the courtyard -of the Louvre and a height half as deep again as the towers of -Notre Dame. And nevertheless the engineers had to leave a lake. - - -The Persian touched a partition-wall and said: - -"If I am not mistaken, this is a wall that might easily belong -to the house on the lake." - -He was striking a partition-wall of the "tub," and perhaps it would be -as well for the reader to know how the bottom and the partition-walls -of the tub were built. In order to prevent the water surrounding -the building-operations from remaining in immediate contact -with the walls supporting the whole of the theatrical machinery, -the architect was obliged to build a double case in every direction. -The work of constructing this double case took a whole year. -It was the wall of the first inner case that the Persian struck -when speaking to Raoul of the house on the lake. To any one -understanding the architecture of the edifice, the Persian's -action would seem to indicate that Erik's mysterious house had -been built in the double case, formed of a thick wall constructed -as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall, a tremendous -layer of cement and another wall several yards in thickness. - -At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against the wall -and listened eagerly. But he heard nothing...nothing -... except distant steps sounding on the floor of the upper -portions of the theater. - -The Persian darkened his lantern again. - -"Look out!" he said. "Keep your hand up! And silence! For we -shall try another way of getting in." - -And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come -down lately. - -They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness -and the silence, till they came to the third cellar. Here the -Persian motioned to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, -crawling on both knees and one hand--for the other hand was held -in the position indicated--they reached the end wall. - -Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE. -Close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set -piece there was just room for a body...for a body which one day -was found hanging there. The body of Joseph Buquet. - -The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment, -he seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his -eyes upward, toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint -glimmer of a lantern, through a cranny between two boards. -This glimmer seemed to trouble the Persian. - -At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act. He slipped -between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul -close upon his heels. With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall. -Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed -against the wall in Christine's dressing-room. Then a stone gave way, -leaving a hole in the wall. - -This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made -a sign to Raoul to do as he did. He cocked the pistol. - -And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole -in the wall. Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content -to follow him. - -The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped almost at once. -Raoul heard him feeling the stones around him. Then the Persian took -out his dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath -him and immediately extinguished his lantern. Raoul heard him say, -in a whisper: - -"We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise; -take off your boots." - -The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul. - -"Put them outside the wall," he said. "We shall find them there -when we leave."[7] - ----- -[7] These two pairs of boots, which were placed, according to the Persian's -papers, just between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, -on the spot where Joseph Buquet was found hanging, were never discovered. -They must have been taken by some stage-carpenter or "door-shutter." - -He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round -and said: - -"I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and -let myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE. You must do exactly the same. -Do not be afraid. I will catch you in my arms." - -Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall -of the Persian, and then dropped down. - -He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms. - -"Hush!" said the Persian. - -And they stood motionless, listening. - -The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible. - -Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern again, -turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole through -which they had come, and failing to find it: - -"Oh!" he said. "The stone has closed of itself!" - -And the light of the lantern swept down the wall and over the floor. - -The Persian stooped and picked up something, a sort of cord, -which he examined for a second and flung away with horror. - -"The Punjab lasso!" he muttered. - -"What is it?" asked Raoul. - -The Persian shivered. "It might very well be the rope by which -the man was hanged, and which was looked for so long." - -And, suddenly seized with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk -of his lantern over the walls. In this way, he lit up a curious thing: -the trunk of a tree, which seemed still quite alive, with its leaves; -and the branches of that tree ran right up the walls and disappeared -in the ceiling. - -Because of the smallness of the luminous disk, it was difficult -at first to make out the appearance of things: they saw a corner -of a branch...and a leaf...and another leaf...and, -next to it, nothing at all, nothing but the ray of light -that seemed to reflect itself....Raoul passed his hand over -that nothing, over that reflection. - -"Hullo!" he said. "The wall is a looking-glass!" - -"Yes, a looking-glass!" said the Persian, in a tone of deep emotion. -And, passing the hand that held the pistol over his moist forehead, -he added, "We have dropped into the torture-chamber!" - -What the Persian knew of this torture-chamber and what there befell -him and his companion shall be told in his own words, as set down -in a manuscript which he left behind him, and which I copy VERBATIM. - - - -Chapter XXI Interesting and Instructive Vicissitudes of a -Persian in the Cellars of the Opera - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE - -It was the first time that I entered the house on the lake. -I had often begged the "trap-door lover," as we used to call Erik -in my country, to open its mysterious doors to me. He always refused. -I made very many attempts, but in vain, to obtain admittance. -Watch him as I might, after I first learned that he had taken up -his permanent abode at the Opera, the darkness was always too thick -to enable me to see how he worked the door in the wall on the lake. -One day, when I thought myself alone, I stepped into the boat -and rowed toward that part of the wall through which I had seen -Erik disappear. It was then that I came into contact with the siren -who guarded the approach and whose charm was very nearly fatal -to me. - -I had no sooner put off from the bank than the silence amid which I -floated on the water was disturbed by a sort of whispered singing -that hovered all around me. It was half breath, half music; -it rose softly from the waters of the lake; and I was surrounded by it -through I knew not what artifice. It followed me, moved with me -and was so soft that it did not alarm me. On the contrary, in my -longing to approach the source of that sweet and enticing harmony, -I leaned out of my little boat over the water, for there was no doubt -in my mind that the singing came from the water itself. By this time, -I was alone in the boat in the middle of the lake; the voice-- -for it was now distinctly a voice--was beside me, on the water. -I leaned over, leaned still farther. The lake was perfectly calm, -and a moonbeam that passed through the air hole in the Rue Scribe -showed me absolutely nothing on its surface, which was smooth and -black as ink. I shook my ears to get rid of a possible humming; -but I soon had to accept the fact that there was no humming in -the ears so harmonious as the singing whisper that followed and now -attracted me. - -Had I been inclined to superstition, I should have certainly thought -that I had to do with some siren whose business it was to confound -the traveler who should venture on the waters of the house on -the lake. Fortunately, I come from a country where we are too -fond of fantastic things not to know them through and through; -and I had no doubt but that I was face to face with some new -invention of Erik's. But this invention was so perfect that, -as I leaned out of the boat, I was impelled less by a desire -to discover its trick than to enjoy its charm; and I leaned out, -leaned out until I almost overturned the boat. - -Suddenly, two monstrous arms issued from the bosom of the waters -and seized me by the neck, dragging me down to the depths -with irresistible force. I should certainly have been lost, -if I had not had time to give a cry by which Erik knew me. -For it was he; and, instead of drowning me, as was certainly -his first intention, he swam with me and laid me gently on the bank: - -"How imprudent you are!" he said, as he stood before me, dripping with water. -"Why try to enter my house? I never invited you! I don't want you there, -nor anybody! Did you save my life only to make it unbearable to me? -However great the service you rendered him, Erik may end by forgetting -it; and you know that nothing can restrain Erik, not even Erik himself." - -He spoke, but I had now no other wish than to know what I already -called the trick of the siren. He satisfied my curiosity, for Erik, -who is a real monster--I have seen him at work in Persia, alas--is also, -in certain respects, a regular child, vain and self-conceited, -and there is nothing he loves so much, after astonishing people, -as to prove all the really miraculous ingenuity of his mind. - -He laughed and showed me a long reed. - -"It's the silliest trick you ever saw," he said, "but it's very useful for -breathing and singing in the water. I learned it from the Tonkin pirates, -who are able to remain hidden for hours in the beds of the rivers."[8] - ----- -[8] An official report from Tonkin, received in Paris at the end -of July, 1909, relates how the famous pirate chief De Tham -was tracked, together with his men, by our soldiers; and how -all of them succeeded in escaping, thanks to this trick of the reeds. - -I spoke to him severely. - -"It's a trick that nearly killed me!" I said. "And it may have -been fatal to others! You know what you promised me, Erik? -No more murders!" - -"Have I really committed murders?" he asked, putting on his most -amiable air. - -"Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours -of Mazenderan?" - -"Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. -I used to make the little sultana laugh, though!" - -"All that belongs to the past," I declared; "but there is the present -... and you are responsible to me for the present, because, -if I had wished, there would have been none at all for you. -Remember that, Erik: I saved your life!" - -And I took advantage of the turn of conversation to speak to him -of something that had long been on my mind: - -"Erik," I asked, "Erik, swear that..." - -"What?" he retorted. "You know I never keep my oaths. Oaths are -made to catch gulls with." - -"Tell me...you can tell me, at any rate. ..." - -"Well?" - -"Well, the chandelier...the chandelier, Erik?..." - -"What about the chandelier?" - -"You know what I mean." - -"Oh," he sniggered, "I don't mind telling you about the chandelier! -...IT WASN'T I!...The chandelier was very old and worn." - -When Erik laughed, he was more terrible than ever. He jumped into -the boat, chuckling so horribly that I could not help trembling. - -"Very old and worn, my dear daroga![9] Very old and worn, -the chandelier!...It fell of itself!...It came down -with a smash!...And now, daroga, take my advice and go -and dry yourself, or you'll catch a cold in the head!... -And never get into my boat again....And, whatever you do, -don't try to enter my house: I'm not always there...daroga! -And I should be sorry to have to dedicate my Requiem Mass to you!" - ----- -[9] DAROGA is Persian for chief of police. - -So saying, swinging to and fro, like a monkey, and still chuckling, -he pushed off and soon disappeared in the darkness of the lake. - -From that day, I gave up all thought of penetrating into his -house by the lake. That entrance was obviously too well guarded, -especially since he had learned that I knew about it. But I felt -that there must be another entrance, for I had often seen Erik -disappear in the third cellar, when I was watching him, though I -could not imagine how. - -Ever since I had discovered Erik installed in the Opera, I lived -in a perpetual terror of his horrible fancies, not in so far as I -was concerned, but I dreaded everything for others.[10] - ----- -[10] The Persian might easily have admitted that Erik's fate also -interested himself, for he was well aware that, if the government -of Teheran had learned that Erik was still alive, it would have -been all up with the modest pension of the erstwhile daroga. -It is only fair, however, to add that the Persian had a noble and -generous heart; and I do not doubt for a moment that the catastrophes -which he feared for others greatly occupied his mind. His conduct, -throughout this business, proves it and is above all praise. - -And whenever some accident, some fatal event happened, I always -thought to myself, "I should not be surprised if that were Erik," -even as others used to say, "It's the ghost!" How often have I -not heard people utter that phrase with a smile! Poor devils! -If they had known that the ghost existed in the flesh, I swear they -would not have laughed! - -Although Erik announced to me very solemnly that he had changed -and that he had become the most virtuous of men SINCE HE WAS LOVED -FOR HIMSELF--a sentence that, at first, perplexed me most terribly-- -I could not help shuddering when I thought of the monster. -His horrible, unparalleled and repulsive ugliness put him without -the pale of humanity; and it often seemed to me that, for this reason, -he no longer believed that he had any duty toward the human race. -The way in which he spoke of his love affairs only increased my alarm, -for I foresaw the cause of fresh and more hideous tragedies in this -event to which he alluded so boastfully. - -On the other hand, I soon discovered the curious moral traffic -established between the monster and Christine Daae. Hiding in -the lumber-room next to the young prima donna's dressing-room, -I listened to wonderful musical displays that evidently flung Christine -into marvelous ecstasy; but, all the same, I would never have thought -that Erik's voice--which was loud as thunder or soft as angels' voices, -at will--could have made her forget his ugliness. I understood all when -I learned that Christine had not yet seen him! I had occasion to go -to the dressing-room and, remembering the lessons he had once -given me, I had no difficulty in discovering the trick that made -the wall with the mirror swing round and I ascertained the means -of hollow bricks and so on--by which he made his voice carry -to Christine as though she heard it close beside her. In this way -also I discovered the road that led to the well and the dungeon-- -the Communists' dungeon--and also the trap-door that enabled Erik -to go straight to the cellars below the stage. - -A few days later, what was not my amazement to learn by my own eyes -and ears that Erik and Christine Daae saw each other and to catch -the monster stooping over the little well, in the Communists' -road and sprinkling the forehead of Christine Daae, who had fainted. -A white horse, the horse out of the PROFETA, which had disappeared -from the stables under the Opera, was standing quietly beside them. -I showed myself. It was terrible. I saw sparks fly from those yellow -eyes and, before I had time to say a word, I received a blow on -the head that stunned me. - -When I came to myself, Erik, Christine and the white horse had disappeared. -I felt sure that the poor girl was a prisoner in the house on -the lake. Without hesitation, I resolved to return to the bank, -notwithstanding the attendant danger. For twenty-four hours, I lay -in wait for the monster to appear; for I felt that he must go out, -driven by the need of obtaining provisions. And, in this connection, -I may say, that, when he went out in the streets or ventured to show -himself in public, he wore a pasteboard nose, with a mustache -attached to it, instead of his own horrible hole of a nose. -This did not quite take away his corpse-like air, but it made -him almost, I say almost, endurable to look at. - -I therefore watched on the bank of the lake and, weary of long waiting, -was beginning to think that he had gone through the other door, -the door in the third cellar, when I heard a slight splashing in -the dark, I saw the two yellow eyes shining like candles and soon -the boat touched shore. Erik jumped out and walked up to me: - -"You've been here for twenty-four hours," he said, "and you're -annoying me. I tell you, all this will end very badly. And you -will have brought it upon yourself; for I have been extraordinarily -patient with you. You think you are following me, you great booby, -whereas it's I who am following you; and I know all that you know -about me, here. I spared you yesterday, in MY COMMUNISTS' ROAD; -but I warn you, seriously, don't let me catch you there again! -Upon my word, you don't seem able to take a hint!" - -He was so furious that I did not think, for the moment, -of interrupting him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus, -he put his horrible thought into words: - -"Yes, you must learn, once and for all--once and for all, I say-- -to take a hint! I tell you that, with your recklessness--for you -have already been twice arrested by the shade in the felt hat, -who did not know what you were doing in the cellars and took you to -the managers, who looked upon you as an eccentric Persian interested -in stage mechanism and life behind the scenes: I know all about it, -I was there, in the office; you know I am everywhere--well, I tell -you that, with your recklessness, they will end by wondering what -you are after here...and they will end by knowing that you -are after Erik...and then they will be after Erik themselves -and they will discover the house on the lake....If they do, -it will be a bad lookout for you, old chap, a bad lookout!... -I won't answer for anything." - -Again he puffed and blew like a walrus. - -"I won't answer for anything!...If Erik's secrets cease to be -Erik's secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER -OF THE HUMAN RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you -are a great booby, it ought to be enough for you...except -that you don't know how to take a hint." - -He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his -heels against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer. -I simply said: - -"It's not Erik that I'm after here!" - -"Who then?" - -"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered. - -He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house. -I am loved for my own sake." - -"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are -keeping her locked up." - -"Listen," he said. "Will you promise never to meddle with my -affairs again, if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?" - -"Yes, I promise you," I replied, without hesitation, for I felt -convinced that for such a monster the proof was impossible. - -"Well, then, it's quite simple....Christine Daae shall leave -this as she pleases and come back again!...Yes, come back again, -because she wishes...come back of herself, because she loves me -for myself!..." - -"Oh, I doubt if she will come back!...But it is your duty to let -her go." "My duty, you great booby!...It is my wish... -my wish to let her go; and she will come back again...for she -loves me!...All this will end in a marriage...a marriage -at the Madeleine, you great booby! Do you believe me now? -When I tell you that my nuptial mass is written...wait till -you hear the KYRIE. ..." - -He beat time with his heels on the planks of the boat and sang: - -"KYRIE!...KYRIE!...KYRIE ELEISON!...Wait till you hear, -wait till you hear that mass." - -"Look here," I said. "I shall believe you if I see Christine Daae -come out of the house on the lake and go back to it of her own accord." - -"And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?" - -"No." - -"Very well, you shall see that to-night. Come to the masked ball. -Christine and I will go and have a look round. Then you can hide -in the lumber-room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone -to her dressing-room, delighted to come back by the Communists' road. -...And, now, be off, for I must go and do some shopping!" - -To my intense astonishment, things happened as he had announced. -Christine Daae left the house on the lake and returned to it -several times, without, apparently, being forced to do so. It was -very difficult for me to clear my mind of Erik. However, I resolved -to be extremely prudent, and did not make the mistake of returning -to the shore of the lake, or of going by the Communists' road. -But the idea of the secret entrance in the third cellar haunted me, -and I repeatedly went and waited for hours behind a scene from the Roi -de Lahore, which had been left there for some reason or other. -At last my patience was rewarded. One day, I saw the monster come -toward me, on his knees. I was certain that he could not see me. -He passed between the scene behind which I stood and a set piece, -went to the wall and pressed on a spring that moved a stone and -afforded him an ingress. He passed through this, and the stone closed -behind him. - -I waited for at least thirty minutes and then pressed the spring -in my turn. Everything happened as with Erik. But I was careful -not to go through the hole myself, for I knew that Erik was inside. -On the other hand, the idea that I might be caught by Erik suddenly -made me think of the death of Joseph Buquet. I did not wish -to jeopardize the advantages of so great a discovery which might -be useful to many people, "to a goodly number of the human race," -in Erik's words; and I left the cellars of the Opera after carefully -replacing the stone. - -I continued to be greatly interested in the relations between Erik -and Christine Daae, not from any morbid curiosity, but because of -the terrible thought which obsessed my mind that Erik was capable -of anything, if he once discovered that he was not loved for his -own sake, as he imagined. I continued to wander, very cautiously, -about the Opera and soon learned the truth about the monster's -dreary love-affair. - -He filled Christine's mind, through the terror with which he -inspired her, but the dear child's heart belonged wholly to the -Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. While they played about, like an innocent -engaged couple, on the upper floors of the Opera, to avoid the monster, -they little suspected that some one was watching over them. -I was prepared to do anything: to kill the monster, if necessary, -and explain to the police afterward. But Erik did not show himself; -and I felt none the more comfortable for that. - -I must explain my whole plan. I thought that the monster, -being driven from his house by jealousy, would thus enable me to -enter it, without danger, through the passage in the third cellar. -It was important, for everybody's sake, that I should know exactly -what was inside. One day, tired of waiting for an opportunity, -I moved the stone and at once heard an astounding music: -the monster was working at his Don Juan Triumphant, with every door -in his house wide open. I knew that this was the work of his life. -I was careful not to stir and remained prudently in my dark hole. - -He stopped playing, for a moment, and began walking about his place, -like a madman. And he said aloud, at the top of his voice: - -"It must be finished FIRST! Quite finished!" - -This speech was not calculated to reassure me and, when the -music recommenced, I closed the stone very softly. - -On the day of the abduction of Christine Daae, I did not come -to the theater until rather late in the evening, trembling lest I -should hear bad news. I had spent a horrible day, for, after reading -in a morning paper the announcement of a forthcoming marriage -between Christine and the Vicomte de Chagny, I wondered whether, -after all, I should not do better to denounce the monster. -But reason returned to me, and I was persuaded that this action -could only precipitate a possible catastrophe. - -When, my cab set me down before the Opera, I was really almost -astonished to see it still standing! But I am something of a fatalist, -like all good Orientals, and I entered ready, for anything. - -Christine Daae's abduction in the Prison Act, which naturally -surprised everybody, found me prepared. I was quite certain -that she had been juggled away by Erik, that prince of conjurers. -And I thought positively that this was the end of Christine and perhaps -of everybody, so much so that I thought of advising all these people -who were staying on at the theater to make good their escape. -I felt, however, that they would be sure to look upon me as mad -and I refrained. - -On the other hand, I resolved to act without further delay, -as far as I was concerned. The chances were in my favor that Erik, -at that moment, was thinking only of his captive. This was the -moment to enter his house through the third cellar; and I resolved -to take with me that poor little desperate viscount, who, at the -first suggestion, accepted, with an amount of confidence in myself -that touched me profoundly. I had sent my servant for my pistols. -I gave one to the viscount and advised him to hold himself ready -to fire, for, after all, Erik might be waiting for us behind the wall. -We were to go by the Communists' road and through the trap-door. - -Seeing my pistols, the little viscount asked me if we were going -to fight a duel. I said: - -"Yes; and what a duel!" But, of course, I had no time to explain -anything to him. The little viscount is a brave fellow, but he -knew hardly anything about his adversary; and it was so much -the better. My great fear was that he was already somewhere near us, -preparing the Punjab lasso. No one knows better than he how to throw -the Punjab lasso, for he is the king of stranglers even as he is -the prince of conjurors. When he had finished making the little -sultana laugh, at the time of the "rosy hours of Mazenderan," -she herself used to ask him to amuse her by giving her a thrill. -It was then that he introduced the sport of the Punjab lasso. - -He had lived in India and acquired an incredible skill in the art -of strangulation. He would make them lock him into a courtyard -to which they brought a warrior--usually, a man condemned to death-- -armed with a long pike and broadsword. Erik had only his lasso; -and it was always just when the warrior thought that he was going -to fell Erik with a tremendous blow that we heard the lasso whistle -through the air. With a turn of the wrist, Erik tightened the noose -round his adversary's neck and, in this fashion, dragged him before -the little sultana and her women, who sat looking from a window -and applauding. The little sultana herself learned to wield the Punjab -lasso and killed several of her women and even of the friends who -visited her. But I prefer to drop this terrible subject of the rosy -hours of Mazenderan. I have mentioned it only to explain why, -on arriving with the Vicomte de Chagny in the cellars of the Opera, -I was bound to protect my companion against the ever-threatening -danger of death by strangling. My pistols could serve no purpose, -for Erik was not likely to show himself; but Erik could always -strangle us. I had no time to explain all this to the viscount; -besides, there was nothing to be gained by complicating the position. -I simply told M. de Chagny to keep his hand at the level of his eyes, -with the arm bent, as though waiting for the command to fire. -With his victim in this attitude, it is impossible even for -the most expert strangler to throw the lasso with advantage. -It catches you not only round the neck, but also round the arm -or hand. This enables you easily to unloose the lasso, which then -becomes harmless. - -After avoiding the commissary of police, a number of door-shutters -and the firemen, after meeting the rat-catcher and passing the man -in the felt hat unperceived, the viscount and I arrived without -obstacle in the third cellar, between the set piece and the scene -from the Roi de Lahore. I worked the stone, and we jumped -into the house which Erik had built himself in the double case -of the foundation-walls of the Opera. And this was the easiest -thing in the world for him to do, because Erik was one of the chief -contractors under Philippe Garnier, the architect of the Opera, -and continued to work by himself when the works were officially -suspended, during the war, the siege of Paris and the Commune. - -I knew my Erik too well to feel at all comfortable on jumping into -his house. I knew what he had made of a certain palace at Mazenderan. -From being the most honest building conceivable, he soon turned it -into a house of the very devil, where you could not utter a word -but it was overheard or repeated by an echo. With his trap-doors -the monster was responsible for endless tragedies of all kinds. -He hit upon astonishing inventions. Of these, the most curious, -horrible and dangerous was the so-called torture-chamber. Except -in special cases, when the little sultana amused herself by inflicting -suffering upon some unoffending citizen, no one was let into it -but wretches condemned to death. And, even then, when these had -"had enough," they were always at liberty to put an end to themselves -with a Punjab lasso or bowstring, left for their use at the foot -of an iron tree. - -My alarm, therefore, was great when I saw that the room into -which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I had dropped was an exact -copy of the torture-chamber of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. -At our feet, I found the Punjab lasso which I had been dreading -all the evening. I was convinced that this rope had already done -duty for Joseph Buquet, who, like myself, must have caught Erik one -evening working the stone in the third cellar. He probably tried it -in his turn, fell into the torture-chamber and only left it hanged. -I can well imagine Erik dragging the body, in order to get rid of it, -to the scene from the Roi de Lahore, and hanging it there as an example, -or to increase the superstitious terror that was to help him -in guarding the approaches to his lair! Then, upon reflection, -Erik went back to fetch the Punjab lasso, which is very curiously -made out of catgut, and which might have set an examining -magistrate thinking. This explains the disappearance of the rope. - -And now I discovered the lasso, at our feet, in the torture-chamber! -... I am no coward, but a cold sweat covered my forehead as I -moved the little red disk of my lantern over the walls. - -M. de Chagny noticed it and asked: - -"What is the matter, sir?" - -I made him a violent sign to be silent. - - - -Chapter XXII In the Torture Chamber - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -We were in the middle of a little six-cornered room, the sides -of which were covered with mirrors from top to bottom. -In the corners, we could clearly see the "joins" in the glasses, -the segments intended to turn on their gear; yes, I recognized -them and I recognized the iron tree in the corner, at the bottom -of one of those segments...the iron tree, with its iron branch, -for the hanged men. - -I seized my companion's arm: the Vicomte de Chagny was all a-quiver, -eager to shout to his betrothed that he was bringing her help. -I feared that he would not be able to contain himself. - -Suddenly, we heard a noise on our left. It sounded at first -like a door opening and shutting in the next room; and then there -was a dull moan. I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still; -and then we distinctly heard these words: - -"You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!" -I recognized the voice of the monster. - -There was another moan, followed by a long silence. - -I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence -in his house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not -to let us hear him. He would only have had to close the little -invisible window through which the torture-lovers look down into -the torture-chamber. Besides, I was certain that, if he had known -of our presence, the tortures would have begun at once. - -The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded -nothing so much as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny, -who wanted to rush through the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans -we continued to hear at intervals. - -"The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed, -"whereas the wedding mass--you can take my word for it--is magnificent! -You must take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go -on living like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant -is finished; and now I want to live like everybody else. I want -to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. -I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not -even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. -And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. -You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. -Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. -If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do -anything with me that you pleased." - -Soon the moans that accompanied this sort of love's litany increased -and increased. I have never heard anything more despairing; -and M. de Chagny and I recognized that this terrible lamentation came -from Erik himself. Christine seemed to be standing dumb with horror, -without the strength to cry out, while the monster was on his knees -before her. - -Three times over, Erik fiercely bewailed his fate: - -"You don't love me! You don't love me! You don't love me!" - -And then, more gently: - -"Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!" - -A silence. - -Each silence gave us fresh hope. We said to ourselves: - -"Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall." - -And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae -of our presence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave -the torture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us; -and it was only on this condition that we could hope to help her, -for we did not even know where the door might be. - -Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing -of an electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall -and Erik's voice of thunder: - -"Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!" - -A sinister chuckle. - -"Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here....I AM GOING -TO TELL THE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR." - -Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the fresh -horror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going -out perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing: -Christine was alone behind the wall! - -The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her: - -"Christine! Christine!" - -As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was -no reason why my companion should not be heard in his turn. -Nevertheless, the viscount had to repeat his cry time after time. - -At last, a faint voice reached us. - -"I am dreaming!" it said. - -"Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul!" - -A silence. - -"But answer me, Christine!...In Heaven's name, if you are alone, -answer me!" - -Then Christine's voice whispered Raoul's name. - -"Yes! Yes! It is I! It is not a dream!...Christine, -trust me!...We are here to save you...but be prudent! -When you hear the monster, warn us!" - -Then Christine gave way to fear. She trembled lest Erik should -discover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words -that Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO -KILL EVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent -to become his wife. He had given her till eleven o'clock the next -evening for reflection. It was the last respite. She must choose, -as he said, between the wedding mass and the requiem. - -And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not -quite understand: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded -in a terrible manner with my own dreadful thought. - -"Can you tell us where Erik is?" I asked. - -She replied that he must have left the house. - -"Could you make sure?" - -"No. I am fastened. I can not stir a limb." - -When we heard this, M. de Chagny and I gave a yell of fury. -Our safety, the safety of all three of us, depended on the girl's -liberty of movement. - -"But where are you?" asked Christine. "There are only two doors -in my room, the Louis-Philippe room of which I told you, Raoul; a door -through which Erik comes and goes, and another which he has never -opened before me and which he has forbidden me ever to go through, -because he says it is the most dangerous of the doors, the door -of the torture-chamber!" - -"Christine, that is where we are!" - -"You are in the torture-chamber?" - -"Yes, but we can not see the door." - -"Oh, if I could only drag myself so far! I would knock at the door -and that would tell you where it is." - -"Is it a door with a lock to it?" I asked. - -"Yes, with a lock." - -"Mademoiselle," I said, "it is absolutely necessary, that you -should open that door to us!" - -"But how?" asked the poor girl tearfully. - -We heard her straining, trying to free herself from the bonds -that held her. - -"I know where the key is," she said, in a voice that seemed exhausted -by the effort she had made. "But I am fastened so tight....Oh, -the wretch!" - -And she gave a sob. - -"Where is the key?" I asked, signing to M. de Chagny not to speak -and to leave the business to me, for we had not a moment to lose. - -"In the next room, near the organ, with another little bronze key, -which he also forbade me to touch. They are both in a little -leather bag which he calls the bag of life and death. -... Raoul! Raoul! Fly! Everything is mysterious and -terrible here, and Erik will soon have gone quite mad, and you -are in the torture-chamber!...Go back by the way you came. -There must be a reason why the room is called by that name!" - -"Christine," said the young man. "we will go from here together -or die together!" - -"We must keep cool," I whispered. "Why has he fastened you, -mademoiselle? You can't escape from his house; and he knows it!" - -"I tried to commit suicide! The monster went out last night, -after carrying me here fainting and half chloroformed. He was -going TO HIS BANKER, so he said!...When he returned he found -me with my face covered with blood....I had tried to kill -myself by striking my forehead against the walls." - -"Christine!" groaned Raoul; and he began to sob. - -"Then he bound me....I am not allowed to die until eleven -o'clock to-morrow evening." - -"Mademoiselle," I declared, "the monster bound you...and he -shall unbind you. You have only to play the necessary part! -Remember that he loves you!" - -"Alas!" we heard. "Am I likely to forget it!" - -"Remember it and smile to him...entreat him...tell him -that your bonds hurt you." - -But Christine Daae said: - -"Hush!...I hear something in the wall on the lake!...It -is he!...Go away! Go away! Go away!" - -"We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressively -as I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in the torture-chamber!" - -"Hush!" whispered Christine again. - -Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made -the floor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by -a cry of horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice: - -"I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! -What a state I am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! -Why did he ring? Do I ask people who pass to tell me the time? -He will never ask anybody the time again! It is the siren's fault." - -{two page color illustration} - -Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmal -depths of a soul. - -"Why did you cry out, Christine?" - -"Because I am in pain, Erik." - -"I thought I had frightened you." - -"Erik, unloose my bonds....Am I not your prisoner?" - -"You will try to kill yourself again." - -"You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik." - -The footsteps dragged along the floor again. - -"After all, as we are to die together...and I am just as eager -as you...yes, I have had enough of this life, you know. -...Wait, don't move, I will release you....You have only -one word to say: `NO!' And it will at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! -...You are right, you are right; why wait till eleven o'clock -to-morrow evening? True, it would have been grander, finer....But -that is childish nonsense....We should only think of ourselves -in this life, of our own death...the rest doesn't matter. -...YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET?... Oh, -my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside!...Apart from that, -Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations....You know, -the man who rang at the siren's door just now--go and look if he's -ringing at the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like. -...There, turn round...are you glad? You're free now. -...Oh, my poor Christine, look at your wrists: tell me, have I -hurt them?...That alone deserves death....Talking of death, -I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!" - -Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment -...I too had once rung at the monster's door...and, -without knowing it, must have set some warning current in motion. - -And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters. -...What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? -Who was `the other one,' the one whose requiem we now heard sung? - -Erik sang like the god of thunder, sang a DIES IRAE that enveloped -us as in a storm. The elements seemed to rage around us. -Suddenly, the organ and the voice ceased so suddenly that M. de -Chagny sprang back, on the other side of the wall, with emotion. -And the voice, changed and transformed, distinctly grated -out these metallic syllables: "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG?" - - - -Chapter XXIII The Tortures Begin - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. - -The voice repeated angrily: "What have you done with my bag? -So it was to take my bag that you asked me to release you!" - -We heard hurried steps, Christine running back to the Louis-Philippe -room, as though to seek shelter on the other side of our wall. - -"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, -which had followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? -Don't you know that it is the bag of life and death?" - -"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we -are to live together...what difference can it make to you?" - -"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. -"What do you want to do?" - -"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you -have always kept from me....It's woman's curiosity!" she said, -in a tone which she tried to render playful. - -But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it. - -"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better -remember the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful....Come, give me -back my bag!...Give me back my bag!...Leave the key alone, -will you, you inquisitive little thing?" - -And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had -evidently recovered the bag from her. - -At that moment, the viscount could not help uttering an exclamation -of impotent rage. - -"Why, what's that?" said the monster. "Did you hear, Christine?" - -"No, no," replied the poor girl. "I heard nothing." - -"I thought I heard a cry." - -"A cry! Are you going mad, Erik? Whom do you expect to give a cry, -in this house?...I cried out, because you hurt me! I heard nothing." - -"I don't like the way you said that!...You're trembling. -... You're quite excited....You're lying!...That was a cry, -there was a cry!...There is some one in the torture-chamber!... -Ah, I understand now!" - -"There is no one there, Erik!" - -"I understand!" - -"No one!" - -"The man you want to marry, perhaps!" - -"I don't want to marry anybody, you know I don't." - -Another nasty chuckle. "Well, it won't take long to find out. -Christine, my love, we need not open the door to see what is happening -in the torture-chamber. Would you like to see? Would you like -to see? Look here! If there is some one, if there is really some -one there, you will see the invisible window light up at the top, -near the ceiling. We need only draw the black curtain and put out -the light in here. There, that's it....Let's put out the light! -You're not afraid of the dark, when you're with your little husband!" - -Then we heard Christine's voice of anguish: - -"No!...I'm frightened!...I tell you, I'm afraid of the dark!... -I don't care about that room now....You're always frightening me, -like a child, with your torture-chamber!...And so I became inquisitive. -...But I don't care about it now...not a bit...not a bit!" - -And that which I feared above all things began, AUTOMATICALLY. -We were suddenly flooded with light! Yes, on our side of the wall, -everything seemed aglow. The Vicomte de Chagny was so much taken -aback that he staggered. And the angry voice roared: - -"I told you there was some one! Do you see the window now? -The lighted window, right up there? The man behind the wall can't -see it! But you shall go up the folding steps: that is what they -are there for!...You have often asked me to tell you; and now you -know!...They are there to give a peep into the torture-chamber -...you inquisitive little thing!" - -"What tortures?...Who is being tortured?...Erik, Erik, say you -are only trying to frighten me!...Say it, if you love me, -Erik!...There are no tortures, are there?" - -"Go and look at the little window, dear!" - -I do not know if the viscount heard the girl's swooning voice, -for he was too much occupied by the astounding spectacle that now -appeared before his distracted gaze. As for me, I had seen that sight -too often, through the little window, at the time of the rosy hours -of Mazenderan; and I cared only for what was being said next door, -seeking for a hint how to act, what resolution to take. - -"Go and peep through the little window! Tell me what he looks like!" - -We heard the steps being dragged against the wall. - -"Up with you!...No!...No, I will go up myself, dear!" - -"Oh, very well, I will go up. Let me go!" - -"Oh, my darling, my darling!...How sweet of you!...How nice -of you to save me the exertion at my age!...Tell me what he -looks like!" - -At that moment, we distinctly heard these words above our heads: - -"There is no one there, dear!" - -"No one?...Are you sure there is no one?" - -"Why, of course not...no one!" - -"Well, that's all right!...What's the matter, Christine? -You're not going to faint, are you...as there is no one there?... -Here...come down...there!...Pull yourself together...as there -is no one there!...BUT HOW DO YOU LIKE THE LANDSCAPE?" - -"Oh, very much!" - -"There, that's better!...You're better now, are you not?... -That's all right, you're better!...No excitement!...And -what a funny house, isn't it, with landscapes like that in it?" - -"Yes, it's like the Musee Grevin....But, say, Erik...there -are no tortures in there!...What a fright you gave me!" - -"Why...as there is no one there?" - -"Did you design that room? It's very handsome. You're a -great artist, Erik." - -"Yes, a great artist, in my own line." - -"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?" - -"Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?" - -"I saw a forest." - -"And what is in a forest?" - -"Trees." - -"And what is in a tree?" - -"Birds." - -"Did you see any birds?" - -"No, I did not see any birds." - -"Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are -the branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET! -That is why I call my wood the torture-chamber!...You see, -it's all a joke. I never express myself like other people. -But I am very tired of it!...I'm sick and tired of having a forest -and a torture-chamber in my house and of living like a mountebank, -in a house with a false bottom!...I'm tired of it! I want to -have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary doors and windows and a wife -inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom I could love and take -out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days...Here, shall I show -you some card-tricks? That will help us to pass a few minutes, -while waiting for eleven o'clock to-morrow evening....My dear little -Christine!...Are you listening to me?...Tell me you love me!... -No, you don't love me...but no matter, you will!...Once, -you could not look at my mask because you knew what was behind. -...And now you don't mind looking at it and you forget what is -behind!...One can get used to everything...if one wishes. -...Plenty of young people who did not care for each other -before marriage have adored each other since! Oh, I don't know -what I am talking about! But you would have lots of fun with me. -For instance, I am the greatest ventriloquist that ever lived, I am -the first ventriloquist in the world!...You're laughing.... -Perhaps you don't believe me? Listen." - -The wretch, who really was the first ventriloquist in the world, -was only trying to divert the child's attention from the torture-chamber; -but it was a stupid scheme, for Christine thought of nothing but us! -She repeatedly besought him, in the gentlest tones which she -could assume: - -"Put out the light in the little window!...Erik, do put out -the light in the little window!" - -For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of -which the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean -something terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment; -and that was seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst -of that resplendent light, alive and well. But she would certainly -have felt much easier if the light had been put out. - -Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. -He said: - -"Here, I raise my mask a little....Oh, only a little!... -You see my lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving!...My -mouth is closed--such mouth as I have--and yet you hear my voice. -...Where will you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? -In the table? In those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece?... -Listen, dear, it's in the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: -what does it say? `SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?'...And now, crack! -What does it say in the little box on the left? `SHALL I TURN -THE GRASSHOPPER?'...And now, crack! Here it is in the little -leather bag....What does it say? `I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE -AND DEATH!'...And now, crack! It is in Carlotta's throat, -in Carlotta's golden throat, in Carlotta's crystal throat, as I live! -What does it say? It says, `It's I, Mr. Toad, it's I singing! -I FEEL WITHOUT ALARM--CO-ACK--WITH ITS MELODY ENWIND ME--CO-ACK!'... -And now, crack! It is on a chair in the ghost's box and it says, -`MADAME CARLOTTA IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!' -...And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik's voice now? -Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of the -torture-chamber! Listen! It's myself in the torture-chamber! And -what do I say? I say, `Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, -and come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!'" - -Oh, the ventriloquist's terrible voice! It was everywhere, everywhere. -It passed through the little invisible window, through the walls. -It ran around us, between us. Erik was there, speaking to us! -We made a movement as though to fling ourselves upon him. -But, already, swifter, more fleeting than the voice of the echo, -Erik's voice had leaped back behind the wall! - -Soon we heard nothing more at all, for this is what happened: - -"Erik! Erik!" said Christine's voice. "You tire me with your voice. -Don't go on, Erik! Isn't it very hot here?" - -"Oh, yes," replied Erik's voice, "the heat is unendurable!" - -"But what does this mean?...The wall is really getting quite -hot!...The wall is burning!" - -"I'll tell you, Christine, dear: it is because of the forest -next door." - -"Well, what has that to do with it? The forest?" - -"WHY, DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WAS AN AFRICAN FOREST?" - -And the monster laughed so loudly and hideously that we could no -longer distinguish Christine's supplicating cries! The Vicomte de -Chagny shouted and banged against the walls like a madman. I could -not restrain him. But we heard nothing except the monster's laughter, -and the monster himself can have heard nothing else. And then there -was the sound of a body falling on the floor and being dragged along -and a door slammed and then nothing, nothing more around us save -the scorching silence of the south in the heart of a tropical forest! - - - -Chapter XXIV "Barrels!...Barrels!...Any Barrels to Sell?" - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED - -I have said that the room in which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I -were imprisoned was a regular hexagon, lined entirely with mirrors. -Plenty of these rooms have been seen since, mainly at exhibitions: -they are called "palaces of illusion," or some such name. -But the invention belongs entirely to Erik, who built the first -room of this kind under my eyes, at the time of the rosy hours -of Mazenderan. A decorative object, such as a column, for instance, -was placed in one of the corners and immediately produced a hall -of a thousand columns; for, thanks to the mirrors, the real room -was multiplied by six hexagonal rooms, each of which, in its turn, -was multiplied indefinitely. But the little sultana soon tired -of this infantile illusion, whereupon Erik altered his invention -into a "torture-chamber." For the architectural motive placed -in one corner, he substituted an iron tree. This tree, with its -painted leaves, was absolutely true to life and was made of iron -so as to resist all the attacks of the "patient" who was locked into -the torture-chamber. We shall see how the scene thus obtained was twice -altered instantaneously into two successive other scenes, by means -of the automatic rotation of the drums or rollers in the corners. -These were divided into three sections, fitting into the angles -of the mirrors and each supporting a decorative scheme that came into -sight as the roller revolved upon its axis. - -The walls of this strange room gave the patient nothing to lay -hold of, because, apart from the solid decorative object, they were -simply furnished with mirrors, thick enough to withstand any onslaught -of the victim, who was flung into the chamber empty-handed and barefoot. - -There was no furniture. The ceiling was capable of being lit up. -An ingenious system of electric heating, which has since been imitated, -allowed the temperature of the walls and room to be increased -at will. - -I am giving all these details of a perfectly natural invention, -producing, with a few painted branches, the supernatural illusion -of an equatorial forest blazing under the tropical sun, so that no -one may doubt the present balance of my brain or feel entitled -to say that I am mad or lying or that I take him for a fool.[11] - ----- -[11] It is very natural that, at the time when the Persian was writing, -he should take so many precautions against any spirit of incredulity -on the part of those who were likely to read his narrative. -Nowadays, when we have all seen this sort of room, his precautions -would be superfluous. - -I now return to the facts where I left them. When the ceiling lit up -and the forest became visible around us, the viscount's stupefaction -was immense. That impenetrable forest, with its innumerable -trunks and branches, threw him into a terrible state of consternation. -He passed his hands over his forehead, as though to drive away a dream; -his eyes blinked; and, for a moment, he forgot to listen. - -I have already said that the sight of the forest did not surprise -me at all; and therefore I listened for the two of us to what was -happening next door. Lastly, my attention was especially attracted, -not so much to the scene, as to the mirrors that produced it. -These mirrors were broken in parts. Yes, they were marked and scratched; -they had been "starred," in spite of their solidity; and this proved -to me that the torture-chamber in which we now were HAD ALREADY -SERVED A PURPOSE. - -Yes, some wretch, whose feet were not bare like those of the victims -of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had certainly fallen into this -"mortal illusion" and, mad with rage, had kicked against those -mirrors which, nevertheless, continued to reflect his agony. -And the branch of the tree on which he had put an end to his own -sufferings was arranged in such a way that, before dying, he had seen, -for his last consolation, a thousand men writhing in his company. - -Yes, Joseph Buquet had undoubtedly been through all this! -Were we to die as he had done? I did not think so, for I knew -that we had a few hours before us and that I could employ them -to better purpose than Joseph Buquet was able to do. After all, -I was thoroughly acquainted with most of Erik's "tricks;" and now -or never was the time to turn my knowledge to account. - -To begin with, I gave up every idea of returning to the passage that -had brought us to that accursed chamber. I did not trouble about -the possibility of working the inside stone that closed the passage; -and this for the simple reason that to do so was out of the question. -We had dropped from too great a height into the torture-chamber; -there was no furniture to help us reach that passage; not even -the branch of the iron tree, not even each other's shoulders were -of any avail. - -There was only one possible outlet, that opening into the Louis-Philippe -room in which Erik and Christine Daae were. But, though this outlet looked -like an ordinary door on Christine's side, it was absolutely invisible -to us. We must therefore try to open it without even knowing where it was. - -When I was quite sure that there was no hope for us from Christine -Daae's side, when I had heard the monster dragging the poor girl from -the Louis-Philippe room LEST SHE SHOULD INTERFERE WITH OUR TORTURES, -I resolved to set to work without delay. - -But I had first to calm M. de Chagny, who was already walking -about like a madman, uttering incoherent cries. The snatches of -conversation which he had caught between Christine and the monster -had contributed not a little to drive him beside himself: -add to that the shock of the magic forest and the scorching heat -which was beginning to make the prespiration{sic} stream down his -temples and you will have no difficulty in understanding his state -of mind. He shouted Christine's name, brandished his pistol, -knocked his forehead against the glass in his endeavors to run -down the glades of the illusive forest. In short, the torture -was beginning to work its spell upon a brain unprepared for it. - -I did my best to induce the poor viscount to listen to reason. -I made him touch the mirrors and the iron tree and the branches -and explained to him, by optical laws, all the luminous imagery -by which we were surrounded and of which we need not allow ourselves -to be the victims, like ordinary, ignorant people. - -"We are in a room, a little room; that is what you must keep saying -to yourself. And we shall leave the room as soon as we have found -the door." - -And I promised him that, if he let me act, without disturbing me -by shouting and walking up and down, I would discover the trick -of the door in less than an hour's time. - -Then he lay flat on the floor, as one does in a wood, and declared -that he would wait until I found the door of the forest, as there -was nothing better to do! And he added that, from where he was, -"the view was splendid!" The torture was working, in spite of all -that I had said. - -Myself, forgetting the forest, I tackled a glass panel and began -to finger it in every direction, hunting for the weak point on which -to press in order to turn the door in accordance with Erik's system -of pivots. This weak point might be a mere speck on the glass, -no larger than a pea, under which the spring lay hidden. -I hunted and hunted. I felt as high as my hands could reach. -Erik was about the same height as myself and I thought that he would -not have placed the spring higher than suited his stature. - -While groping over the successive panels with the greatest care, -I endeavored not to lose a minute, for I was feeling more and more -overcome with the heat and we were literally roasting in that -blazing forest. - -I had been working like this for half an hour and had finished -three panels, when, as ill-luck would have it, I turned round -on hearing a muttered exclamation from the viscount. - -"I am stifling," he said. "All those mirrors are sending out -an infernal heat! Do you think you will find that spring soon? -If you are much longer about it, we shall be roasted alive!" - -I was not sorry to hear him talk like this. He had not said a word -of the forest and I hoped that my companion's reason would hold -out some time longer against the torture. But he added: - -"What consoles me is that the monster has given Christine until -eleven to-morrow evening. If we can't get out of here and go -to her assistance, at least we shall be dead before her! -Then Erik's mass can serve for all of us!" - -And he gulped down a breath of hot air that nearly made him faint. - -As I had not the same desperate reasons as M. le Vicomte for -accepting death, I returned, after giving him a word of encouragement, -to my panel, but I had made the mistake of taking a few steps while -speaking and, in the tangle of the illusive forest, I was no longer -able to find my panel for certain! I had to begin all over again, -at random, feeling, fumbling, groping. - -Now the fever laid hold of me in my turn...for I found nothing, -absolutely nothing. In the next room, all was silence. We were -quite lost in the forest, without an outlet, a compass, a guide -or anything. Oh, I knew what awaited us if nobody came to our aid... -or if I did not find the spring! But, look as I might, I found -nothing but branches, beautiful branches that stood straight up -before me, or spread gracefully over my head. But they gave no shade. -And this was natural enough, as we were in an equatorial forest, -with the sun right above our heads, an African forest. - -M. de Chagny and I had repeatedly taken off our coats and put them -on again, finding at one time that they made us feel still hotter -and at another that they protected us against the heat. I was still -making a moral resistance, but M. de Chagny seemed to me quite "gone." -He pretended that he had been walking in that forest for three -days and nights, without stopping, looking for Christine Daae! -From time to time, he thought he saw her behind the trunk of a tree, -or gliding between the branches; and he called to her with words -of supplication that brought the tears to my eyes. And then, -at last: - -"Oh, how thirsty I am!" he cried, in delirious accents. - -I too was thirsty. My throat was on fire. And, yet, squatting on -the floor, I went on hunting, hunting, hunting for the spring of -the invisible door...especially as it was dangerous to remain -in the forest as evening drew nigh. Already the shades of night -were beginning to surround us. It had happened very quickly: -night falls quickly in tropical countries...suddenly, with hardly -any twilight. - -Now night, in the forests of the equator, is always dangerous, -particularly when, like ourselves, one has not the materials for a -fire to keep off the beasts of prey. I did indeed try for a moment -to break off the branches, which I would have lit with my dark lantern, -but I knocked myself also against the mirrors and remembered, -in time, that we had only images of branches to do with. - -The heat did not go with the daylight; on the contrary, it was now -still hotter under the blue rays of the moon. I urged the viscount -to hold our weapons ready to fire and not to stray from camp, -while I went on looking for my spring. - -Suddenly, we heard a lion roaring a few yards away. - -"Oh," whispered the viscount, "he is quite close!...Don't you -see him?...There...through the trees...in that thicket! -If he roars again, I will fire!..." - -And the roaring began again, louder than before. And the viscount fired, -but I do not think that he hit the lion; only, he smashed a mirror, -as I perceived the next morning, at daybreak. We must have covered -a good distance during the night, for we suddenly found ourselves on -the edge of the desert, an immense desert of sand, stones and rocks. -It was really not worth while leaving the forest to come upon -the desert. Tired out, I flung myself down beside the viscount, -for I had had enough of looking for springs which I could not find. - -I was quite surprised--and I said so to the viscount--that we -had encountered no other dangerous animals during the night. -Usually, after the lion came the leopard and sometimes the buzz -of the tsetse fly. These were easily obtained effects; and I -explained to M. de Chagny that Erik imitated the roar of a lion -on a long tabour or timbrel, with an ass's skin at one end. -Over this skin he tied a string of catgut, which was fastened -at the middle to another similar string passing through the whole -length of the tabour. Erik had only to rub this string with a glove -smeared with resin and, according to the manner in which he rubbed it, -he imitated to perfection the voice of the lion or the leopard, -or even the buzzing of the tsetse fly. - -The idea that Erik was probably in the room beside us, working his trick, -made me suddenly resolve to enter into a parley with him, for we -must obviously give up all thought of taking him by surprise. -And by this time he must be quite aware who were the occupants -of his torture-chamber. I called him: "Erik! Erik!" - -I shouted as loudly as I could across the desert, but there was no answer -to my voice. All around us lay the silence and the bare immensity of that -stony desert. What was to become of us in the midst of that awful solitude? - -We were beginning literally to die of heat, hunger and thirst... -of thirst especially. At last, I saw M. de Chagny raise himself -on his elbow and point to a spot on the horizon. He had discovered -an oasis! - -Yes, far in the distance was an oasis...an oasis with limpid water, -which reflected the iron trees!...Tush, it was the scene of -the mirage....I recognized it at once...the worst of the -three!...No one had been able to fight against it...no one. -...I did my utmost to keep my head AND NOT TO HOPE FOR WATER, -because I knew that, if a man hoped for water, the water that -reflected the iron tree, and if, after hoping for water, he struck -against the mirror, then there was only one thing for him to do: -to hang himself on the iron tree! - -So I cried to M. de Chagny: - -"It's the mirage!...It's the mirage!...Don't believe -in the water!...It's another trick of the mirrors!..." - -Then he flatly told me to shut up, with my tricks of the mirrors, -my springs, my revolving doors and my palaces of illusions! -He angrily declared that I must be either blind or mad to imagine -that all that water flowing over there, among those splendid, -numberless trees, was not real water!...And the desert was real! -...And so was the forest!...And it was no use trying to take -him in...he was an old, experienced traveler...he had been -all over the place! - -And he dragged himself along, saying: "Water! Water!" - -And his mouth was open, as though he were drinking. - -And my mouth was open too, as though I were drinking. - -For we not only saw the water, but WE HEARD IT!...We heard -it flow, we heard it ripple!...Do you understand that word -"ripple?"...IT IS A SOUND WHICH YOU HEAR WITH YOUR TONGUE! -...You put your tongue out of your mouth to listen to it better! - -Lastly--and this was the most pitiless torture of all--we heard -the rain and it was not raining! This was an infernal invention. -...Oh, I knew well enough how Erik obtained it! He filled -with little stones a very long and narrow box, broken up inside -with wooden and metal projections. The stones, in falling, -struck against these projections and rebounded from one to another; -and the result was a series of pattering sounds that exactly imitated -a rainstorm. - -Ah, you should have seen us putting out our tongues and dragging ourselves -toward the rippling river-bank! Our eyes and ears were full of water, -but our tongues were hard and dry as horn! - -When we reached the mirror, M. de Chagny licked it...and I -also licked the glass. - -It was burning hot! - -Then we rolled on the floor with a hoarse cry of despair. -M. de Chagny put the one pistol that was still loaded to his temple; -and I stared at the Punjab lasso at the foot of the iron tree. -I knew why the iron tree had returned, in this third change of scene!... -The iron tree was waiting for me!... - -But, as I stared at the Punjab lasso, I saw a thing that made me -start so violently that M. de Chagny delayed his attempt at suicide. -I took his arm. And then I caught the pistol from him...and then -I dragged myself on my knees toward what I had seen. - -I had discovered, near the Punjab lasso, in a groove in the floor, -a black-headed nail of which I knew the use. At last I had discovered -the spring! I felt the nail....I lifted a radiant face to -M. de Chagny....The black-headed nail yielded to my pressure.... - -And then.... - -And then we saw not a door opened in the wall, but a cellar-flap -released in the floor. Cool air came up to us from the black -hole below. We stooped over that square of darkness as though over -a limpid well. With our chins in the cool shade, we drank it in. -And we bent lower and lower over the trap-door. What could there -be in that cellar which opened before us? Water? Water to drink? - -I thrust my arm into the darkness and came upon a stone and another -stone...a staircase...a dark staircase leading into the cellar. -The viscount wanted to fling himself down the hole; but I, -fearing a new trick of the monster's, stopped him, turned on -my dark lantern and went down first. - -The staircase was a winding one and led down into pitchy darkness. -But oh, how deliciously cool were the darkness and the stairs? -The lake could not be far away. - -We soon reached the bottom. Our eyes were beginning to accustom -themselves to the dark, to distinguish shapes around us... -circular shapes...on which I turned the light of my lantern. - -Barrels! - -We were in Erik's cellar: it was here that he must keep his wine -and perhaps his drinking-water. I knew that Erik was a great lover -of good wine. Ah, there was plenty to drink here! - -M. de Chagny patted the round shapes and kept on saying: - -"Barrels! Barrels! What a lot of barrels!..." - -Indeed, there was quite a number of them, symmetrically arranged -in two rows, one on either side of us. They were small barrels -and I thought that Erik must have selected them of that size -to facilitate their carriage to the house on the lake. - -We examined them successively, to see if one of them had not -a funnel, showing that it had been tapped at some time or another. -But all the barrels were hermetically closed. - -Then, after half lifting one to make sure it was full, we went -on our knees and, with the blade of a small knife which I carried, -I prepared to stave in the bung-hole. - -At that moment, I seemed to hear, coming from very far, a sort -of monotonous chant which I knew well, from often hearing it -in the streets of Paris: - -"Barrels!...Barrels!...Any barrels to sell?" - -My hand desisted from its work. M. de Chagny had also heard. -He said: - -"That's funny! It sounds as if the barrel were singing!" - -The song was renewed, farther away: - -"Barrels!...Barrels!...Any barrels to sell?..." - -"Oh, I swear," said the viscount, "that the tune dies away -in the barrel!..." - -We stood up and went to look behind the barrel. - -"It's inside," said M. de Chagny, "it's inside!" - -But we heard nothing there and were driven to accuse the bad condition -of our senses. And we returned to the bung-hole. M. de Chagny -put his two hands together underneath it and, with a last effort, -I burst the bung. - -"What's this?" cried the viscount. "This isn't water!" - -The viscount put his two full hands close to my lantern....I -stooped to look...and at once threw away the lantern with such -violence that it broke and went out, leaving us in utter darkness. - -What I had seen in M. de Chagny's hands...was gun-powder! - - - -Chapter XXV The Scorpion or the Grasshopper: Which? - - -THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONCLUDED - -The discovery flung us into a state of alarm that made us forget all -our past and present sufferings. We now knew all that the monster -meant to convey when he said to Christine Daae: - -"Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" - -Yes, buried under the ruins of the Paris Grand Opera! - -The monster had given her until eleven o'clock in the evening. -He had chosen his time well. There would be many people, many -"members of the human race," up there, in the resplendent theater. -What finer retinue could be expected for his funeral? He would go -down to the tomb escorted by the whitest shoulders in the world, -decked with the richest jewels. - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -We were all to be blown up in the middle of the performance... -if Christine Daae said no! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!... - -And what else could Christine say but no? Would she not prefer -to espouse death itself rather than that living corpse? She did -not know that on her acceptance or refusal depended the awful fate -of many members of the human race! - -Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening! - -And we dragged ourselves through the darkness, feeling our way -to the stone steps, for the light in the trap-door overhead that -led to the room of mirrors was now extinguished; and we repeated -to ourselves: - -"Eleven o'clock to-morrow evening!" - -At last, I found the staircase. But, suddenly I drew myself up -on the first step, for a terrible thought had come to my mind: - -"What is the time?" - -Ah, what was the time?...For, after all, eleven o'clock to-morrow -evening might be now, might be this very moment! Who could tell us -the time? We seemed to have been imprisoned in that hell for days -and days...for years...since the beginning of the world. -Perhaps we should be blown up then and there! Ah, a sound! A crack! -"Did you hear that?...There, in the corner...good heavens!... -Like a sound of machinery!...Again!...Oh, for a light!... -Perhaps it's the machinery that is to blow everything up!... -I tell you, a cracking sound: are you deaf?" - -M. de Chagny and I began to yell like madmen. Fear spurred us on. -We rushed up the treads of the staircase, stumbling as we went, -anything to escape the dark, to return to the mortal light of the room -of mirrors! - -We found the trap-door still open, but it was now as dark -in the room of mirrors as in the cellar which we had left. -We dragged ourselves along the floor of the torture-chamber, the floor -that separated us from the powder-magazine. What was the time? -We shouted, we called: M. de Chagny to Christine, I to Erik. -I reminded him that I had saved his life. But no answer, save that -of our despair, of our madness: what was the time? We argued, -we tried to calculate the time which we had spent there, but we were -incapable of reasoning. If only we could see the face of a watch!... -Mine had stopped, but M. de Chagny's was still going... -He told me that he had wound it up before dressing for the Opera.... -We had not a match upon us....And yet we must know.... -M. de Chagny broke the glass of his watch and felt the two hands. -...He questioned the hands of the watch with his finger-tips, -going by the position of the ring of the watch....Judging -by the space between the hands, he thought it might be just eleven -o'clock! - -But perhaps it was not the eleven o'clock of which we stood in dread. -Perhaps we had still twelve hours before us! - -Suddenly, I exclaimed: "Hush!" - -I seemed to hear footsteps in the next room. Some one tapped -against the wall. Christine Daae's voice said: - -"Raoul! Raoul!" We were now all talking at once, on either side -of the wall. Christine sobbed; she was not sure that she would -find M. de Chagny alive. The monster had been terrible, it seemed, -had done nothing but rave, waiting for her to give him the "yes" -which she refused. And yet she had promised him that "yes," if he -would take her to the torture-chamber. But he had obstinately declined, -and had uttered hideous threats against all the members of the -human race! At last, after hours and hours of that hell, he had -that moment gone out, leaving her alone to reflect for the last time. - -"Hours and hours? What is the time now? What is the time, Christine?" - -"It is eleven o'clock! Eleven o'clock, all but five minutes!" - -"But which eleven o'clock?" - -"The eleven o'clock that is to decide life or death!...He told me -so just before he went....He is terrible....He is quite mad: -he tore off his mask and his yellow eyes shot flames!...He did -nothing but laugh!...He said, `I give you five minutes to spare -your blushes! Here,' he said, taking a key from the little bag -of life and death, `here is the little bronze key that opens the two -ebony caskets on the mantelpiece in the Louis-Philippe room. -...In one of the caskets, you will find a scorpion, in the other, -a grasshopper, both very cleverly imitated in Japanese bronze: -they will say yes or no for you. If you turn the scorpion round, -that will mean to me, when I return, that you have said yes. -The grasshopper will mean no.' And he laughed like a drunken demon. -I did nothing but beg and entreat him to give me the key of -the torture-chamber, promising to be his wife if he granted me -that request....But he told me that there was no future need -for that key and that he was going to throw it into the lake!... -And he again laughed like a drunken demon and left me. Oh, his last -words were, `The grasshopper! Be careful of the grasshopper! -A grasshopper does not only turn: it hops! It hops! And it hops -jolly high!'" - -The five minutes had nearly elapsed and the scorpion and the grasshopper -were scratching at my brain. Nevertheless, I had sufficient -lucidity left to understand that, if the grasshopper were turned, -it would hop...and with it many members of the human race! -There was no doubt but that the grasshopper controlled an electric -current intended to blow up the powder-magazine! - -M. de Chagny, who seemed to have recovered all his moral force -from hearing Christine's voice, explained to her, in a few -hurried words, the situation in which we and all the Opera were. -He told her to turn the scorpion at once. - -There was a pause. - -"Christine," I cried, "where are you?" - -"By the scorpion." - -"Don't touch it!" - -The idea had come to me--for I knew my Erik--that the monster had -perhaps deceived the girl once more. Perhaps it was the scorpion -that would blow everything up. After all, why wasn't he there? -The five minutes were long past...and he was not back. -...Perhaps he had taken shelter and was waiting for the explosion! -...Why had he not returned?...He could not really expect -Christine ever to consent to become his voluntary prey!...Why -had he not returned? - -"Don't touch the scorpion!" I said. - -"Here he comes!" cried Christine. "I hear him! Here he is!" - -We heard his steps approaching the Louis-Philippe room. He came -up to Christine, but did not speak. Then I raised my voice: - -"Erik! It is I! Do you know me?" - -With extraordinary calmness, he at once replied: - -"So you are not dead in there? Well, then, see that you keep quiet." - -I tried to speak, but he said coldly: - -"Not a word, daroga, or I shall blow everything up." And he added, -"The honor rests with mademoiselle....Mademoiselle has not -touched the scorpion"--how deliberately he spoke!--"mademoiselle -has not touched the grasshopper"--with that composure!--"but it -is not too late to do the right thing. There, I open the caskets -without a key, for I am a trap-door lover and I open and shut -what I please and as I please. I open the little ebony caskets: -mademoiselle, look at the little dears inside. Aren't they pretty? -If you turn the grasshopper, mademoiselle, we shall all be blown up. -There is enough gun-powder under our feet to blow up a whole quarter -of Paris. If you turn the scorpion, mademoiselle, all that powder -will be soaked and drowned. Mademoiselle, to celebrate our wedding, -you shall make a very handsome present to a few hundred Parisians -who are at this moment applauding a poor masterpiece of Meyerbeer's -...you shall make them a present of their lives....For, -with your own fair hands, you shall turn the scorpion.... -And merrily, merrily, we will be married!" - -A pause; and then: - -"If, in two minutes, mademoiselle, you have not turned the scorpion, -I shall turn the grasshopper...and the grasshopper, I tell you, -HOPS JOLLY HIGH!" - -The terrible silence began anew. The Vicomte de Chagny, -realizing that there was nothing left to do but pray, went down -on his knees and prayed. As for me, my blood beat so fiercely -that I had to take my heart in both hands, lest it should burst. -At last, we heard Erik's voice: - -"The two minutes are past....Good-by, mademoiselle. -...Hop, grasshopper! "Erik," cried Christine, "do you swear -to me, monster, do you swear to me that the scorpion is the one to turn? - -"Yes, to hop at our wedding." - -"Ah, you see! You said, to hop!" - -"At our wedding, ingenuous child!...The scorpion opens the ball. -...But that will do!...You won't have the scorpion? Then I -turn the grasshopper!" - -"Erik!" - -"Enough!" - -I was crying out in concert with Christine. M. de Chagny was still -on his knees, praying. - -"Erik! I have turned the scorpion!" - -Oh, the second through which we passed! - -Waiting! Waiting to find ourselves in fragments, amid the roar -and the ruins! - -Feeling something crack beneath our feet, hearing an appalling hiss -through the open trap-door, a hiss like the first sound of a rocket! - -It came softly, at first, then louder, then very loud. But it -was not the hiss of fire. It was more like the hiss of water. -And now it became a gurgling sound: "Guggle! Guggle!" - -We rushed to the trap-door. All our thirst, which vanished when -the terror came, now returned with the lapping of the water. - -The water rose in the cellar, above the barrels, the powder-barrels-- -"Barrels!...Barrels! Any barrels to sell?"--and we went down to it -with parched throats. It rose to our chins, to our mouths. And we drank. -We stood on the floor of the cellar and drank. And we went up the -stairs again in the dark, step by step, went up with the water. - -The water came out of the cellar with us and spread over the floor -of the room. If, this went on, the whole house on the lake would -be swamped. The floor of the torture-chamber had itself become -a regular little lake, in which our feet splashed. Surely there -was water enough now! Erik must turn off the tap! - -"Erik! Erik! That is water enough for the gunpowder! Turn off -the tap! Turn off the scorpion!" - -But Erik did not reply. We heard nothing but the water rising: -it was half-way to our waists! - -"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny. "Christine! The water is up -to our knees!" - -But Christine did not reply....We heard nothing but the water rising. - -No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one -to turn the scorpion! - -We were all alone, in the dark, with the dark water that seized us -and clasped us and froze us! - -"Erik! Erik!" - -"Christine! Christine!" - -By this time, we had lost our foothold and were spinning round -in the water, carried away by an irresistible whirl, for the water -turned with us and dashed us against the dark mirror, which thrust -us back again; and our throats, raised above the whirlpool, -roared aloud. - -Were we to die here, drowned in the torture-chamber? I had never -seen that. Erik, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, -had never shown me that, through the little invisible window. - -"Erik! Erik!" I cried. "I saved your life! Remember!...You -were sentenced to death! But for me, you would be dead now!... -Erik!" - -We whirled around in the water like so much wreckage. -But, suddenly, my straying hands seized the trunk of the iron tree! -I called M. de Chagny, and we both hung to the branch of the iron tree. - -And the water rose still higher. - -"Oh! Oh! Can you remember? How much space is there between the branch -of the tree and the dome-shaped ceiling? Do try to remember!... -After all, the water may stop, it must find its level!...There, -I think it is stopping!...No, no, oh, horrible!...Swim! -Swim for your life!" - -Our arms became entangled in the effort of swimming; we choked; -we fought in the dark water; already we could hardly breathe the dark -air above the dark water, the air which escaped, which we could hear -escaping through some vent-hole or other. - -"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole -and then glue our mouths to it!" - -But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! -Oh, how those glass walls slipped from under my groping -fingers!...We whirled round again!...We began to sink! -...One last effort!...A last cry: "Erik!...Christine!..." - -"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the -bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!" - -And, before losing consciousness entirely, I seemed to hear, -between two guggles: - -"Barrels! Barrels! Any barrels to sell?" - - - -Chapter XXVI The End of the Ghost's Love Story - - -The previous chapter marks the conclusion of the written narrative -which the Persian left behind him. - -Notwithstanding the horrors of a situation which seemed definitely -to abandon them to their deaths, M. de Chagny and his companion -were saved by the sublime devotion of Christine Daae. And I -had the rest of the story from the lips of the daroga himself. - -When I went to see him, he was still living in his little flat -in the Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries. He was very ill, -and it required all my ardor as an historian pledged to the truth to -persuade him to live the incredible tragedy over again for my benefit. -His faithful old servant Darius showed me in to him. The daroga -received me at a window overlooking the garden of the Tuileries. -He still had his magnificent eyes, but his poor face looked very worn. -He had shaved the whole of his head, which was usually covered with -an astrakhan cap; he was dressed in a long, plain coat and amused -himself by unconsciously twisting his thumbs inside the sleeves; -but his mind was quite clear, and he told me his story with -perfect lucidity. - -It seems that, when he opened his eyes, the daroga found himself -lying on a bed. M. de Chagny was on a sofa, beside the wardrobe. -An angel and a devil were watching over them. - -After the deceptions and illusions of the torture-chamber, the precision -of the details of that quiet little middle-class room seemed to have -been invented for the express purpose of puzzling the mind of the -mortal rash enough to stray into that abode of living nightmare. -The wooden bedstead, the waxed mahogany chairs, the chest of drawers, -those brasses, the little square antimacassars carefully placed -on the backs of the chairs, the clock on the mantelpiece and the -harmless-looking ebony caskets at either end, lastly, the whatnot -filled with shells, with red pin-cushions, with mother-of-pearl boats -and an enormous ostrich-egg, the whole discreetly lighted by a shaded -lamp standing on a small round table: this collection of ugly, -peaceable, reasonable furniture, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OPERA CELLARS, -bewildered the imagination more than all the late fantastic happenings. - -And the figure of the masked man seemed all the more formidable -in this old-fashioned, neat and trim little frame. It bent down -over the Persian and said, in his ear: - -"Are you better, daroga?...You are looking at my furniture?... -It is all that I have left of my poor unhappy mother." - -Christine Daae did not say a word: she moved about noiselessly, -like a sister of charity, who had taken a vow of silence. -She brought a cup of cordial, or of hot tea, he did not remember which. -The man in the mask took it from her hands and gave it to the Persian. -M. de Chagny was still sleeping. - -Erik poured a drop of rum into the daroga's cup and, pointing to -the viscount, said: - -"He came to himself long before we knew if you were still alive, -daroga. He is quite well. He is asleep. We must not wake him." - -Erik left the room for a moment, and the Persian raised himself -on his elbow, looked around him and saw Christine Daae sitting -by the fireside. He spoke to her, called her, but he was -still very weak and fell back on his pillow. Christine came -to him, laid her hand on his forehead and went away again. -And the Persian remembered that, as she went, she did not give -a glance at M. de Chagny, who, it is true, was sleeping peacefully; -and she sat down again in her chair by the chimney-corner, -silent as a sister of charity who had taken a vow of silence. - -Erik returned with some little bottles which he placed on -the mantelpiece. And, again in a whisper, so as not to wake M. de -Chagny, he said to the Persian, after sitting down and feeling his pulse: - -"You are now saved, both of you. And soon I shall take you up -to the surface of the earth, TO PLEASE MY WIFE." - -Thereupon he rose, without any further explanation, and disappeared -once more. - -The Persian now looked at Christine's quiet profile under the lamp. -She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book. -There are editions of THE IMITATION that look like that. The Persian -still had in his ears the natural tone in which the other had said, -"to please my wife." Very gently, he called her again; but Christine -was wrapped up in her book and did not hear him. - -Erik returned, mixed the daroga a draft and advised him not to speak to -"his wife" again nor to any one, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUS -TO EVERYBODY'S HEALTH. - -Eventually, the Persian fell asleep, like M. de Chagny, and did not -wake until he was in his own room, nursed by his faithful Darius, -who told him that, on the night before, he was found propped against -the door of his flat, where he had been brought by a stranger, -who rang the bell before going away. - -As soon as the daroga recovered his strength and his wits, he sent -to Count Philippe's house to inquire after the viscount's health. -The answer was that the young man had not been seen and that Count -Philippe was dead. His body was found on the bank of the Opera lake, -on the Rue-Scribe side. The Persian remembered the requiem mass -which he had heard from behind the wall of the torture-chamber, -and had no doubt concerning the crime and the criminal. -Knowing Erik as he did, he easily reconstructed the tragedy. -Thinking that his brother had run away with Christine Daae, -Philippe had dashed in pursuit of him along the Brussels Road, -where he knew that everything was prepared for the elopement. -Failing to find the pair, he hurried back to the Opera, remembered -Raoul's strange confidence about his fantastic rival and learned -that the viscount had made every effort to enter the cellars of -the theater and that he had disappeared, leaving his hat in the prima -donna's dressing-room beside an empty pistol-case. And the count, -who no longer entertained any doubt of his brother's madness, in his -turn darted into that infernal underground maze. This was enough, -in the Persian's eyes, to explain the discovery of the Comte -de Chagny's corpse on the shore of the lake, where the siren, -Erik's siren, kept watch. - -The Persian did not hesitate. He determined to inform the police. -Now the case was in the hands of an examining-magistrate called Faure, -an incredulous, commonplace, superficial sort of person, (I write -as I think), with a mind utterly unprepared to receive a confidence -of this kind. M. Faure took down the daroga's depositions and -proceeded to treat him as a madman. - -Despairing of ever obtaining a hearing, the Persian sat down to write. -As the police did not want his evidence, perhaps the press would be -glad of it; and he had just written the last line of the narrative -I have quoted in the preceding chapters, when Darius announced -the visit of a stranger who refused his name, who would not show -his face and declared simply that he did not intend to leave -the place until he had spoken to the daroga. - -The Persian at once felt who his singular visitor was and ordered -him to be shown in. The daroga was right. It was the ghost, -it was Erik! - -He looked extremely weak and leaned against the wall, as though he -were afraid of falling. Taking off his hat, he revealed a forehead -white as wax. The rest of the horrible face was hidden by the mask. - -The Persian rose to his feet as Erik entered. - -"Murderer of Count Philippe, what have you done with his brother -and Christine Daae?" - -Erik staggered under this direct attack, kept silent for a moment, -dragged himself to a chair and heaved a deep sigh. Then, speaking in -short phrases and gasping for breath between the words: - -"Daroga, don't talk to me...about Count Philippe....He was dead... -by the time...I left my house...he was dead... when... -the siren sang....It was an...accident...a sad...a very sad -...accident. He fell very awkwardly... but simply and naturally... -into the lake!..." - -"You lie!" shouted the Persian. - -Erik bowed his head and said: - -"I have not come here...to talk about Count Philippe... -but to tell you that...I am going...to die. ..." - -"Where are Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"I am going to die." - -"Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae?" - -"Of love...daroga...I am dying...of love...That is how it is.... -loved her so!...And I love her still...daroga...and I am dying -of love for her, I...I tell you!...If you knew how beautiful she was... -when she let me kiss her...alive...It was the first...time, daroga, -the first...time I ever kissed a woman.... Yes, alive....I kissed her alive -...and she looked as beautiful as if she had been dead!" - -The Persian shook Erik by the arm: - -"Will you tell me if she is alive or dead." - -"Why do you shake me like that?" asked Erik, making an effort -to speak more connectedly. "I tell you that I am going to die. -...Yes, I kissed her alive...." - -"And now she is dead?" - -"I tell you I kissed her just like that, on her forehead... -and she did not draw back her forehead from my lips!...Oh, -she is a good girl!...As to her being dead, I don't think so; -but it has nothing to do with me....No, no, she is not dead! -And no one shall touch a hair of her head! She is a good, -honest girl, and she saved your life, daroga, at a moment when I -would not have given twopence for your Persian skin. As a matter -of fact, nobody bothered about you. Why were you there with -that little chap? You would have died as well as he! My word, -how she entreated me for her little chap! But I told her that, -as she had turned the scorpion, she had, through that very fact, -and of her own free will, become engaged to me and that she did -not need to have two men engaged to her, which was true enough. - -"As for you, you did not exist, you had ceased to exist, I tell you, -and you were going to die with the other!...Only, mark me, -daroga, when you were yelling like the devil, because of the water, -Christine came to me with her beautiful blue eyes wide open, and swore -to me, as she hoped to be saved, that she consented to be MY LIVING -WIFE!...Until then, in the depths of her eyes, daroga, I had -always seen my dead wife; it was the first time I saw MY LIVING -WIFE there. She was sincere, as she hoped to be saved. She would -not kill herself. It was a bargain....Half a minute later, -all the water was back in the lake; and I had a hard job with you, -daroga, for, upon my honor, I thought you were done for!... -However!...There you were!...It was understood that I was -to take you both up to the surface of the earth. When, at last, -I cleared the Louis-Philippe room of you, I came back alone...." - -"What have you done with the Vicomte de Chagny?" asked the Persian, -interrupting him. - -"Ah, you see, daroga, I couldn't carry HIM up like that, at once. -...He was a hostage....But I could not keep him in the house on -the lake, either, because of Christine; so I locked him up comfortably, -I chained him up nicely--a whiff of the Mazenderan scent had left him -as limp as a rag--in the Communists' dungeon, which is in the most -deserted and remote part of the Opera, below the fifth cellar, -where no one ever comes, and where no one ever hears you. -Then I came back to Christine, she was waiting for me." - -Erik here rose solemnly. Then he continued, but, as he spoke, -he was overcome by all his former emotion and began to tremble -like a leaf: - -"Yes, she was waiting for me...waiting for me erect and alive, -a real, living bride...as she hoped to be saved....And, -when I...came forward, more timid than...a little child, -she did not run away...no, no...she stayed...she waited -for me....I even believe...daroga...that she put out -her forehead...a little...oh, not much...just a little... -like a living bride....And...and...I...kissed her!... -I!...I!...I!...And she did not die!...Oh, how good it is, -daroga, to kiss somebody on the forehead!...You can't tell!... -But I! I!...My mother, daroga, my poor, unhappy mother would never -...let me kiss her....She used to run away...and throw me my mask! -...Nor any other woman...ever, ever!...Ah, you can understand, -my happiness was so great, I cried. And I fell at her feet, crying -...and I kissed her feet...her little feet...crying. You're crying, too, -daroga...and she cried also...the angel cried!..." Erik -sobbed aloud and the Persian himself could not retain his tears -in the presence of that masked man, who, with his shoulders shaking -and his hands clutched at his chest, was moaning with pain and love -by turns. - -"Yes, daroga...I felt her tears flow on my forehead...on mine, -mine!...They were soft...they were sweet!...They trickled -under my mask...they mingled with my tears in my eyes...yes -...they flowed between my lips....Listen, daroga, listen to -what I did....I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her -tears...and she did not run away!...And she did not die!... -She remained alive, weeping over me, with me. We cried together! -I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer!" - -And Erik fell into a chair, choking for breath: - -"Ah, I am not going to die yet...presently I shall...but let -me cry!...Listen, daroga...listen to this....While -I was at her feet...I heard her say, `Poor, unhappy Erik!' -... AND SHE TOOK MY HAND!...I had become no more, you know, -than a poor dog ready to die for her....I mean it, daroga!... -I held in my hand a ring, a plain gold ring which I had given her -...which she had lost...and which I had found again... -a wedding-ring, you know....I slipped it into her little hand -and said, `There!...Take it!...Take it for you...and him! -...It shall be my wedding-present a present from your poor, -unhappy Erik.....I know you love the boy...don't cry any more! -...She asked me, in a very soft voice, what I meant.... -Then I made her understand that, where she was concerned, -I was only a poor dog, ready to die for her...but that she could -marry the young man when she pleased, because she had cried with me -and mingled her tears with mine!..." - -Erik's emotion was so great that he had to tell the Persian not -to look at him, for he was choking and must take off his mask. -The daroga went to the window and opened it. His heart was full -of pity, but he took care to keep his eyes fixed on the trees in -the Tuileries gardens, lest he should see the monster's face. - -"I went and released the young man," Erik continued, "and told -him to come with me to Christine....They kissed before me -in the Louis-Philippe room....Christine had my ring.... -I made Christine swear to come back, one night, when I was dead, -crossing the lake from the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest -secrecy with the gold ring, which she was to wear until that moment. -...I told her where she would find my body and what to do with it. -...Then Christine kissed me, for the first time, herself, here, -on the forehead--don't look, daroga!--here, on the forehead...on -my forehead, mine--don't look, daroga!--and they went off together. -...Christine had stopped crying....I alone cried....Daroga, daroga, -if Christine keeps her promise, she will come back soon!..." - -The Persian asked him no questions. He was quite reassured -as to the fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could -have doubted the word of the weeping Erik that night. - -The monster resumed his mask and collected his strength to leave -the daroga. He told him that, when he felt his end to be very -near at hand, he would send him, in gratitude for the kindness -which the Persian had once shown him, that which he held dearest -in the world: all Christine Daae's papers, which she had written -for Raoul's benefit and left with Erik, together with a few -objects belonging to her, such as a pair of gloves, a shoe-buckle -and two pocket-handkerchiefs. In reply to the Persian's questions, -Erik told him that the two young people, at soon as they found -themselves free, had resolved to go and look for a priest in some -lonely spot where they could hide their happiness and that, -with this object in view, they had started from "the northern -railway station of the world." Lastly, Erik relied on the Persian, -as soon as he received the promised relics and papers, to inform -the young couple of his death and to advertise it in the EPOQUE. - -That was all. The Persian saw Erik to the door of his flat, -and Darius helped him down to the street. A cab was waiting for him. -Erik stepped in; and the Persian, who had gone back to the window, -heard him say to the driver: - -"Go to the Opera." - -And the cab drove off into the night. - -The Persian had seen the poor, unfortunate Erik for the last time. -Three weeks later, the Epoque published this advertisement: - -"Erik is dead." - - - -Epilogue. - - -I have now told the singular, but veracious story of the Opera ghost. -As I declared on the first page of this work, it is no longer possible -to deny that Erik really lived. There are to-day so many proofs -of his existence within the reach of everybody that we can follow -Erik's actions logically through the whole tragedy of the Chagnys. - -There is no need to repeat here how greatly the case excited the capital. -The kidnapping of the artist, the death of the Comte de Chagny -under such exceptional conditions, the disappearance of his brother, -the drugging of the gas-man at the Opera and of his two assistants: -what tragedies, what passions, what crimes had surrounded the idyll -of Raoul and the sweet and charming Christine!...What had become -of that wonderful, mysterious artist of whom the world was never, -never to hear again?...She was represented as the victim of a -rivalry between the two brothers; and nobody suspected what had -really happened, nobody understood that, as Raoul and Christine -had both disappeared, both had withdrawn far from the world to -enjoy a happiness which they would not have cared to make public -after the inexplicable death of Count Philippe....They took -the train one day from "the northern railway station of the world." -...Possibly, I too shall take the train at that station, one day, -and go and seek around thy lakes, O Norway, O silent Scandinavia, -for the perhaps still living traces of Raoul and Christine and also -of Mamma Valerius, who disappeared at the same time!...Possibly, -some day, I shall hear the lonely echoes of the North repeat -the singing of her who knew the Angel of Music!... - -Long after the case was pigeonholed by the unintelligent care -of M. le Juge d'Instruction Faure, the newspapers made efforts, -at intervals, to fathom the mystery. One evening paper alone, -which knew all the gossip of the theaters, said: - -"We recognize the touch of the Opera ghost." - -And even that was written by way of irony. - -The Persian alone knew the whole truth and held the main proofs, -which came to him with the pious relics promised by the ghost. It fell -to my lot to complete those proofs with the aid of the daroga himself. -Day by day, I kept him informed of the progress of my inquiries; -and he directed them. He had not been to the Opera for years and years, -but he had preserved the most accurate recollection of the building, -and there was no better guide than he possible to help me discover -its most secret recesses. He also told me where to gather further -information, whom to ask; and he sent me to call on M. Poligny, -at a moment when the poor man was nearly drawing his last breath. -I had no idea that he was so very ill, and I shall never forget -the effect which my questions about the ghost produced upon him. -He looked at me as if I were the devil and answered only in a few -incoherent sentences, which showed, however--and that was the main thing-- -the extent of the perturbation which O. G., in his time, had brought -into that already very restless life (for M. Poligny was what people -call a man of pleasure). - -When I came and told the Persian of the poor result of my visit -to M. Poligny, the daroga gave a faint smile and said: - -"Poligny never knew how far that extraordinary blackguard of an Erik -humbugged him."--The Persian, by the way, spoke of Erik sometimes -as a demigod and sometimes as the lowest of the low--"Poligny -was superstitious and Erik knew it. Erik knew most things about -the public and private affairs of the Opera. When M. Poligny heard -a mysterious voice tell him, in Box Five, of the manner in which he -used to spend his time and abuse his partner's confidence, he did -not wait to hear any more. Thinking at first that it was a voice -from Heaven, he believed himself damned; and then, when the voice -began to ask for money, he saw that he was being victimized by a -shrewd blackmailer to whom Debienne himself had fallen a prey. -Both of them, already tired of management for various reasons, -went away without trying to investigate further into the personality -of that curious O. G., who had forced such a singular memorandum-book -upon them. They bequeathed the whole mystery to their successors -and heaved a sigh of relief when they were rid of a business -that had puzzled them without amusing them in the least." - -I then spoke of the two successors and expressed my surprise that, -in his Memoirs of a Manager, M. Moncharmin should describe the Opera -ghost's behavior at such length in the first part of the book and hardly -mention it at all in the second. In reply to this, the Persian, -who knew the MEMOIRS as thoroughly as if he had written them himself, -observed that I should find the explanation of the whole business -if I would just recollect the few lines which Moncharmin devotes -to the ghost in the second part aforesaid. I quote these lines, -which are particularly interesting because they describe the very -simple manner in which the famous incident of the twenty-thousand -francs was closed: - -"As for O. G., some of whose curious tricks I have related in the -first part of my Memoirs, I will only say that he redeemed by one -spontaneous fine action all the worry which he had caused my dear -friend and partner and, I am bound to say, myself. He felt, no doubt, -that there are limits to a joke, especially when it is so expensive -and when the commissary of police has been informed, for, at the moment -when we had made an appointment in our office with M. Mifroid to tell him -the whole story, a few days after the disappearance of Christine Daae, -we found, on Richard's table, a large envelope, inscribed, in red ink, -"WITH O. G.'S COMPLIMENTS." It contained the large sum of money -which he had succeeded in playfully extracting, for the time being, -from the treasury. Richard was at once of the opinion that we must -be content with that and drop the business. I agreed with Richard. -All's well that ends well. What do you say, O. G.?" - -Of course, Moncharmin, especially after the money had been restored, -continued to believe that he had, for a short while, been the butt -of Richard's sense of humor, whereas Richard, on his side, -was convinced that Moncharmin had amused himself by inventing -the whole of the affair of the Opera ghost, in order to revenge -himself for a few jokes. - -I asked the Persian to tell me by what trick the ghost had taken -twenty-thousand francs from Richard's pocket in spite of the -safety-pin. He replied that he had not gone into this little detail, -but that, if I myself cared to make an investigation on the spot, -I should certainly find the solution to the riddle in the managers' -office by remembering that Erik had not been nicknamed the trap-door -lover for nothing. I promised the Persian to do so as soon as I -had time, and I may as well tell the reader at once that the results -of my investigation were perfectly satisfactory; and I hardly -believed that I should ever discover so many undeniable proofs -of the authenticity of the feats ascribed to the ghost. - -The Persian's manuscript, Christine Daae's papers, the statements made -to me by the people who used to work under MM. Richard and Moncharmin, -by little Meg herself (the worthy Madame Giry, I am sorry to say, is no more) -and by Sorelli, who is now living in retirement at Louveciennes: -all the documents relating to the existence of the ghost, which I -propose to deposit in the archives of the Opera, have been checked -and confirmed by a number of important discoveries of which I am -justly proud. I have not been able to find the house on the lake, -Erik having blocked up all the secret entrances.[12] On the other hand, -I have discovered the secret passage of the Communists, the planking -of which is falling to pieces in parts, and also the trap-door -through which Raoul and the Persian penetrated into the cellars -of the opera-house. In the Communists' dungeon, I noticed numbers of -initials traced on the walls by the unfortunate people confined in it; -and among these were an "R" and a "C." R. C.: Raoul de Chagny. -The letters are there to this day. - ----- -[12] Even so, I am convinced that it would be easy to reach it -by draining the lake, as I have repeatedly requested the Ministry -of Fine Arts to do. I was speaking about it to M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, -the under-secretary for fine arts, only forty-eight hours before -the publication of this book. Who knows but that the score of DON -JUAN TRIUMPHANT might yet be discovered in the house on the lake? - -If the reader will visit the Opera one morning and ask leave to stroll -where he pleases, without being accompanied by a stupid guide, -let him go to Box Five and knock with his fist or stick on -the enormous column that separates this from the stage-box. He -will find that the column sounds hollow. After that, do not be -astonished by the suggestion that it was occupied by the voice -of the ghost: there is room inside the column for two men. -If you are surprised that, when the various incidents occurred, -no one turned round to look at the column, you must remember -that it presented the appearance of solid marble, and that -the voice contained in it seemed rather to come from the opposite -side, for, as we have seen, the ghost was an expert ventriloquist. - -The column was elaborately carved and decorated with the sculptor's -chisel; and I do not despair of one day discovering the ornament that -could be raised or lowered at will, so as to admit of the ghost's -mysterious correspondence with Mme. Giry and of his generosity. - -However, all these discoveries are nothing, to my mind, compared with -that which I was able to make, in the presence of the acting-manager, -in the managers' office, within a couple of inches from the desk-chair, -and which consisted of a trap-door, the width of a board in the flooring -and the length of a man's fore-arm and no longer; a trap-door that -falls back like the lid of a box; a trap-door through which I can -see a hand come and dexterously fumble at the pocket of a swallow-tail coat. - -That is the way the forty-thousand francs went!.... And that also -is the way by which, through some trick or other, they were returned. - -Speaking about this to the Persian, I said: - -"So we may take it, as the forty-thousand francs were returned, -that Erik was simply amusing himself with that memorandum-book -of his?" - -"Don't you believe it!" he replied. "Erik wanted money. Thinking himself -without the pale of humanity, he was restrained by no scruples and -he employed his extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination, -which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary -uglinesss, to prey upon his fellow-men. His reason for restoring -the forty-thousand francs, of his own accord, was that he no longer -wanted it. He had relinquished his marriage with Christine Daae. -He had relinquished everything above the surface of the earth." - -According to the Persian's account, Erik was born in a small town -not far from Rouen. He was the son of a master-mason. He ran away at -an early age from his father's house, where his ugliness was a subject -of horror and terror to his parents. For a time, he frequented -the fairs, where a showman exhibited him as the "living corpse." -He seems to have crossed the whole of Europe, from fair to fair, -and to have completed his strange education as an artist and magician -at the very fountain-head of art and magic, among the Gipsies. -A period of Erik's life remained quite obscure. He was seen at the fair -of Nijni-Novgorod, where he displayed himself in all his hideous glory. -He already sang as nobody on this earth had ever sung before; he practised -ventriloquism and gave displays of legerdemain so extraordinary -that the caravans returning to Asia talked about it during the whole -length of their journey. In this way, his reputation penetrated -the walls of the palace at Mazenderan, where the little sultana, -the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. -A dealer in furs, returning to Samarkand from Nijni-Novgorod, -told of the marvels which he had seen performed in Erik's tent. -The trader was summoned to the palace and the daroga of Mazenderan -was told to question him. Next the daroga was instructed to go -and find Erik. He brought him to Persia, where for some months -Erik's will was law. He was guilty of not a few horrors, for he -seemed not to know the difference between good and evil. He took -part calmly in a number of political assassinations; and he turned -his diabolical inventive powers against the Emir of Afghanistan, -who was at war with the Persian empire. The Shah took a liking -to him. - -This was the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, of which the daroga's -narrative has given us a glimpse. Erik had very original ideas on -the subject of architecture and thought out a palace much as a conjuror -contrives a trick-casket. The Shah ordered him to construct an edifice -of this kind. Erik did so; and the building appears to have been -so ingenious that His Majesty was able to move about in it unseen and -to disappear without a possibility of the trick's being discovered. -When the Shah-in-Shah found himself the possessor of this gem, -he ordered Erik's yellow eyes to be put out. But he reflected that, -even when blind, Erik would still be able to build so remarkable -a house for another sovereign; and also that, as long as Erik -was alive, some one would know the secret of the wonderful palace. -Erik's death was decided upon, together with that of all the laborers -who had worked under his orders. The execution of this abominable -decree devolved upon the daroga of Mazenderan. Erik had shown -him some slight services and procured him many a hearty laugh. -He saved Erik by providing him with the means of escape, but nearly -paid with his head for his generous indulgence. - -Fortunately for the daroga, a corpse, half-eaten by the birds -of prey, was found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and was taken -for Erik's body, because the daroga's friends had dressed the remains -in clothing that belonged to Erik. The daroga was let off with -the loss of the imperial favor, the confiscation of his property -and an order of perpetual banishment. As a member of the Royal House, -however, he continued to receive a monthly pension of a few hundred -francs from the Persian treasury; and on this he came to live in Paris. - -As for Erik, he went to Asia Minor and thence to Constantinople, -where he entered the Sultan's employment. In explanation of the services -which he was able to render a monarch haunted by perpetual terrors, -I need only say that it was Erik who constructed all the famous trap-doors -and secret chambers and mysterious strong-boxes which were found -at Yildiz-Kiosk after the last Turkish revolution. He also invented -those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the Sultan in -all respects,[13] which made people believe that the Commander of the -Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he was asleep elsewhere. - ----- -[13] See the interview of the special correspondent of the MATIN, -with Mohammed-Ali Bey, on the day after the entry of the Salonika -troops into Constantinople. - -Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons -that made him fly from Persia: he knew too much. Then, tired of -his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some -one "like everybody else." And he became a contractor, like any -ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. -He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. -His estimate was accepted. When he found himself in the cellars -of the enormous playhouse, his artistic, fantastic, wizard nature -resumed the upper hand. Besides, was he not as ugly as ever? -He dreamed of creating for his own use a dwelling unknown -to the rest of the earth, where he could hide from men's eyes for all time. - -The reader knows and guesses the rest. It is all in keeping with -this incredible and yet veracious story. Poor, unhappy Erik! -Shall we pity him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be "some one," -like everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his -genius OR USE IT TO PLAY TRICKS WITH, when, with an ordinary face, -he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had -a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, -he had to content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must needs -pity the Opera ghost. - -I have prayed over his mortal remains, that God might show him -mercy notwithstanding his crimes. Yes, I am sure, quite sure -that I prayed beside his body, the other day, when they took it -from the spot where they were burying the phonographic records. -It was his skeleton. I did not recognize it by the ugliness of the head, -for all men are ugly when they have been dead as long as that, -but by the plain gold ring which he wore and which Christine Daae -had certainly slipped on his finger, when she came to bury him -in accordance with her promise. - -The skeleton was lying near the little well, in the place where the Angel -of Music first held Christine Daae fainting in his trembling arms, -on the night when he carried her down to the cellars of the opera-house. - -And, now, what do they mean to do with that skeleton? Surely they -will not bury it in the common grave!...I say that the place -of the skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National -Academy of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton. - - - -THE END - - - -The Paris Opera House - - -THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" - -That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris -Opera House as it really is and has not created a building out -of his imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it -taken from an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, -a short time after the building was completed: - -"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under -the Republic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world -and in many respects the most beautiful. No European capital -possesses an opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, -and none can boast an edifice equally vast and splendid. - -"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined -to lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was -well known that water would be met with, but it was impossible -to foresee at what depth or in what quantity it would be found. -Exceptional depth also was necessary, as the stage arrangements -were to be such as to admit a scene fifty feet high to be lowered -on its frame. It was therefore necessary to lay a foundation -in a soil soaked with water which should be sufficiently solid -to sustain a weight of 22,000,000 pounds, and at the same time to be -perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for the storage -of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, -the excavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, -worked by steam power, and in operation, without interruption, -day and night, from March second to October thirteenth. The floor -of the cellar was covered with a layer of concrete, then with two -coats of cement, another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. -The wall includes an outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, -a coat of cement, and a wall proper, a little over a yard thick. -After all this was done the whole was filled with water, in order -that the fluid, by penetrating into the most minute interstices, -might deposit a sediment which would close them more surely and -perfectly than it would be possible to do by hand. Twelve years -elapsed before the completion of the building, and during that time -it was demonstrated that the precautions taken secured absolute -impermeability and solidity. - -"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to be -prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put -to new and unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted -into a vast military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous -mass of goods. After the siege the building fell into the hands -of the Commune and the roof was turned into a balloon station. -The damage done, however, was slight. - -"The fine stone employed in the construction was brought from -quarries in Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland, Spain, -Belgium and France. While work on the exterior was in progress, -the building was covered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent -by thousands of small panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, -supplied with hammers and axes, stripped the house of its habit, -and showed in all its splendor the great structure. No picture can -do justice to the rich colors of the edifice or to the harmonious -tone resulting from the skilful use of many diverse materials. -The effect of the frontage is completed by the cupola of the auditorium, -topped with a cap of bronze sparingly adorned with gilding. -Farther on, on a level with the towers of Notre-Dame, is the gable -end of the roof of the stage, a `Pegasus', by M. Lequesne, -rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group by M. Millet, -representing `Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commanding the apex. -Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well as ornamental, -for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does duty as a -lightning-rod, and conducts the fluid to the body and down the nether -limbs of the god. - -"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left behind him a gateway, -reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, -and Handel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to a second vestibule -for ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion reserved for -carriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are situated. -The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium, -traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. -The ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted -columns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico. -Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain -until their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is -quite distinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. -The section of the building set aside for the use of the Emperor -Napoleon was to have included an antechamber for the bodyguards; -a salon for the aides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one -for the Empress; hat and cloak rooms, etc. Moreover, there were -to be in close proximity to the entrance, stables for three coaches, -for the outriders' horses, and for the twenty-one horsemen acting -as an escort; a station for a squad of infantry of thirty-one men -and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the horses of the latter; -and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty domestics. Thus arrangements -had to be made to accommodate in this part of the building about -one hundred persons, fifty horses, and half-a-dozen carriages. -The fall of the Empire suggested some changes, but ample provision -still exists for emergencies. - -"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare splendor of material, -make the grand stairway unquestionably one of the most remarkable -features of the building. It presents to the spectator, who has -just passed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture. -From this point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing; -this and the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, -are honeycombed with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; -the steps are of white marble, and antique red marble balusters -rest on green marble sockets and support a balustrade of onyx. -To the right and to the left of this landing are stairways to the floor, -on a plane with the first row of boxes. On this floor stand thirty -monolith columns of Sarrancolin marble, with white marble bases -and capitals. Pilasters of peach-blossom and violet stone are against -the corresponding walls. More than fifty blocks had to be extracted -from the quarry to find thirty perfect monoliths. - -"The foyer de la danse has particular interest for the habitues -of the Opera. It is a place of reunion to which subscribers to three -performances a week are admitted between the acts in accordance -with a usage established in 1870. Three immense looking-glasses -cover the back wall of the FOYER, and a chandelier with one -hundred and seven burners supplies it with light. The paintings -include twenty oval medallions, in which are portrayed the twenty -danseuses of most celebrity since the opera has existed in France, -and four panels by M. Boulanger, typifying `The War Dance', `The -Rustic Dance', `The Dance of Love' and `The Bacchic Dance.' -While the ladies of the ballet receive their admirers in this foyer, -they can practise their steps. Velvet-cushioned bars have to this -end been secured at convenient points, and the floor has been given -the same slope as that of the stage, so that the labor expended -may be thoroughly profitable to the performance. The singers' foyer, -on the same floor, is a much less lively resort than the -foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leave their dressing-rooms -before they are summoned to the stage. Thirty panels with portraits -of the artists of repute in the annals of the Opera adorn this foyer. - -"Some estimate...may be arrived at by sitting before the concierge -an hour or so before the representation commences. First appear -the stage carpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes, -when L'Africaine, for example, with its ship scene, is the opera, -one hundred and ten strong. Then come stage upholsterers, -whose sole duty is to lay carpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and -a squad of firemen. Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, -coiffeurs, supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries -number about one hundred; some are hired by the year, but the -`masses' are generally recruited at the last minute and are -generally working-men who seek to add to their meagre earnings. -There are about a hundred choristers, and about eighty musicians. - -"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted on the stage by means -of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producing batteries; -hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works in ballets like La Source; -artificers who prepare the conflagration in Le Profeta; florists who -make ready Margarita's garden, and a host of minor employees. -This personnel is provided for as follows: Eighty dressing-rooms -are reserved for the artists, each including a small antechamber, -the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besides these apartments, -the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, and another for -fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four male dancers; -four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of different grades; -a dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries, etc." - -A few figures taken from the article will suggest the enormous -capacity and the perfect convenience of the house. "There are -2,531 doors and 7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house; -the gaspipes if connected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; -9 reservoirs, and two tanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and -distribute their contents through 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; -538 persons have places assigned wherein to change their attire. -The musicians have a foyer with 100 closets for their instruments." - -The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that it "was -almost as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways and -colossal halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, -satin and velvet, met the eye at every turn." - -In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable pictures -illustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera House -and mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitan -railway tunnels, one on top of the other. - - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA *** - -This file should be named phant12.txt or phant12.zip -Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, phant13.txt -VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, phant10a.txt - - - -Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US -unless a copyright notice is included. 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